Afghan journalist convicted of illegal border crossing fears deportation from Russia

A St. Petersburg court has sentenced Afghan journalist Kobra Hassani to two years in a correctional facility on charges of illegally crossing the Russian border, reports local outlet Fontanka. The court accounted for Hassani’s time in pre-trial detention and stated that her sentence has been served. Now, Hassani could face deportation to Afghanistan, where, as she has previously stated, her life is at risk. 

Hassani, who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power, was found guilty of attempting to illegally leave Russia for the E.U. as part of a group and by prior conspiracy.

The St. Petersburg outlet Bumaga noted that the court’s verdict said nothing about the question of deportation. A hearing on the extension of Hassani’s detention in a temporary holding center is scheduled for February 14, according to RFE/RL’s Sever.Realii.

Kobra Hassani worked for Afghan television until August 2021. She left Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban seized power in the country. The journalist enrolled in an English-language program at Kyiv University, but with the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she decided to move to Europe. To do this, she turned to travel brokers who promised to take her to Poland, but instead, they took her through occupied territory to Moscow. In Russia, Hassani contacted another broker who promised to take her to Europe through St. Petersburg. She and the others in her group were detained near St. Petersburg's Great Port.

Hassani’s defense filed an application for asylum on grounds of the imminent danger she faces in Afghanistan. A former colleague of Hassani’s in Kabul told BBC News Russian that if deported, the journalist faces imprisonment and torture because she wrote about women’s rights. The Russian Interior Ministry’s migration service disagreed with this argument and refused Hassani asylum.