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Rehovot Kaplan Hospital: Israel to deport Ephiopian Woman, AIDS patient
"In contravention of High Court of Justice rulings, the Interior Ministry has decided to deport a 40-year-old Ethiopian woman with advanced AIDS who is in Israel illegally. Her husband, 41, who also has AIDS, is an Israeli citizen who emigrated to the country 12 years ago. The Immigration Police arrested the woman two weeks ago at her Jerusalem home; and yesterday morning, she was taken to the detention center at Ben-Gurion International Airport to await a flight back to Ethiopia at midnight.
The woman's physician, Dr. Daniel Elbirt of Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, informed the Immigration Police explicitly that deporting her would spell the end of her treatment for HIV and be tantamount to "a death sentence."
The husband, N.Z., told Haaretz last night that he developed AIDS after moving to Israel in 1994, and has since been treated and monitored at the hospital. "Because of my health," he recounted, "I sought a partner who was also sick, so as not to infect other women." He met her five years ago.
"Because her health was worse than mine, we decided not to have children," he added.
The couple married in Paraguay in July 2001. Afterward, the husband applied to his local Population Administration office in Jerusalem to sort out his wife's citizenship, but was informed by the clerks that the marriage was not legal.
Until a few years ago, it was customary to perform Paraguay marriages in Israel, through a lawyer who mailed in the marriage forms to be legally authorized by the Paraguayan authorities. This method between an Israeli and a foreigner was controversial, and Israel banned it in 2002. However, since the couple had wed a year earlier, the Population Administration was obligated to legalize the foreign spouse's citizenship - as his common-law wife, if it refused to recognize her as his legal wife.
Last week, the High Court handed down a precedent-setting ruling that prohibits deporting illegal aliens who are the common-law spouses of Israeli citizens. N.Z. said he had tried for years to legalize his spouse's status. "Each time I came to the bureau in Jerusalem to ask what happened to the application, they told me, 'Don't worry, we've got your phone number and we'll call.'"
The call never came, but the details about the spouse residing here illegally were conveyed to the Immigration Police. N.Z. said his wife was initially held at a Hadera prison, then transfered to a special facility for AIDS patients at the Shmuel Harofeh geriatric hospital near Ramle.
"If they deport my wife, it's like sending me to the cemetery. She's the only one who looks after me. Everyone keeps their distance from me because of the disease," he said.
Advocate Yael Katz-Mastbaum was working yesterday to prevent the deportation. "The couple has a good reason to remain together, and in Israel, since they proved their couplehood to the Interior Ministry, years before the arrest, and in view of their special circumstances," she said.
The Population Administration said in response: "The woman was arrested two weeks ago, and we wonder why the reasons against deporting her were raised only before the flight. Since that is the case, she will leave the country, and her spouse can invite her to Israel."
Source: Relly Sa'ar. AIDS patient, in Israel illegally, facing deportation - despite Israeli spouse. (23 March 2006) [FullText]
The woman's physician, Dr. Daniel Elbirt of Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, informed the Immigration Police explicitly that deporting her would spell the end of her treatment for HIV and be tantamount to "a death sentence."
The husband, N.Z., told Haaretz last night that he developed AIDS after moving to Israel in 1994, and has since been treated and monitored at the hospital. "Because of my health," he recounted, "I sought a partner who was also sick, so as not to infect other women." He met her five years ago.
"Because her health was worse than mine, we decided not to have children," he added.
The couple married in Paraguay in July 2001. Afterward, the husband applied to his local Population Administration office in Jerusalem to sort out his wife's citizenship, but was informed by the clerks that the marriage was not legal.
Until a few years ago, it was customary to perform Paraguay marriages in Israel, through a lawyer who mailed in the marriage forms to be legally authorized by the Paraguayan authorities. This method between an Israeli and a foreigner was controversial, and Israel banned it in 2002. However, since the couple had wed a year earlier, the Population Administration was obligated to legalize the foreign spouse's citizenship - as his common-law wife, if it refused to recognize her as his legal wife.
Last week, the High Court handed down a precedent-setting ruling that prohibits deporting illegal aliens who are the common-law spouses of Israeli citizens. N.Z. said he had tried for years to legalize his spouse's status. "Each time I came to the bureau in Jerusalem to ask what happened to the application, they told me, 'Don't worry, we've got your phone number and we'll call.'"
The call never came, but the details about the spouse residing here illegally were conveyed to the Immigration Police. N.Z. said his wife was initially held at a Hadera prison, then transfered to a special facility for AIDS patients at the Shmuel Harofeh geriatric hospital near Ramle.
"If they deport my wife, it's like sending me to the cemetery. She's the only one who looks after me. Everyone keeps their distance from me because of the disease," he said.
Advocate Yael Katz-Mastbaum was working yesterday to prevent the deportation. "The couple has a good reason to remain together, and in Israel, since they proved their couplehood to the Interior Ministry, years before the arrest, and in view of their special circumstances," she said.
The Population Administration said in response: "The woman was arrested two weeks ago, and we wonder why the reasons against deporting her were raised only before the flight. Since that is the case, she will leave the country, and her spouse can invite her to Israel."
Source: Relly Sa'ar. AIDS patient, in Israel illegally, facing deportation - despite Israeli spouse. (23 March 2006) [FullText]
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