The details of Norway’s mass extradition have become known. Reports show that the treatment of Chechen asylum seekers by Norwegian authorities was inhumane.

Aset Khabizhayeva and her five children, aged 3-17, were among the deported Chechen asylum seekers on January 25th. Three years ago, they fled persecution in the Russian occupied Chechen Republic Ichkeria and arrived in Norway. The Norwegian migration authorities examined their case and the family obtained a residence permit. Recently, Aset’s husband ran away from Chechnya and joined them in Norway. After his arrival, Norway canceled the family’s residence permit for unknown reasons. On January 24th, around midnight, Norwegian police came to their house in the city of Sortland and asked them to dress quickly and join them. Then the family was brought to Oslo where they were deported to Russia.

“It is very stressful. We are afraid to go back. We have no place to live,” said Aset Khabizhayeva just before the deportation.

“I wished and hoped that we could stay in Norway. We had a lot of fun in Sortland. We had a lot of friends. We were going to school and my brothers were playing sports. I am very sad now,” said Aminat, the family’s 17-year old daughter.

“It was awful how they treated these people. The police went to the Khabizhayeva family home late at night and did not let them pick up their clothes or other belongings. This is a terrible way to treat people. We were thinking that there was a deal between Norway and Russia but when the family arrived in Moscow, nobody was waiting for them. They had to stay at a train station without food or shelter in the cold,” said Christoffer Ellingsen, head of a support group for Chechen asylum seekers in Sortland.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee also expressed their fears that deported Chechen asylum seekers can face torture and other inhumane treatments.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco