Iceland has rejected the appeal of a Nigerian couple, Sunday Iserian and Joy Lucky, and their eight-year-old daughter, Mary to stay in the country.
The family will be deported to Nigeria, ruled the country’s Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board on Monday.
According to Iceland Mirror, the family received this news after living in Iceland for a year and a half.
Iserian and Joy had left Nigeria more than eight years ago, via the Libya route, to Italy, where they met and had their daughter. They later migrated to Iceland, in search of a better life.
Mr. Iserian appealed for political asylum due to threats he claimed he received from the Nigerian government. Joy Lucky claimed she was a victim of sexual slavery while pregnant with their daughter Mary. Their stories appeared to have been taken as cock and bull stories, and thus rejected by the Immigration Appeals.
The news of the rejection of their application met with some furor in Iceland, and an online petition was set up for them to be able to stay in the country, the Mirror reported.
The Ombudsman for Children in Iceland had made a statement to say that they are concerned about the welfare of children seeking asylum in Iceland.
