The Albanian families, who were deported on December 10 after their applications for asylum were rejected, will return to Iceland this afternoon Vísir reports. After returning to Albania they applied for Icelandic citizenship on the basis that they have children who require medical treatment. They argued that they do not receive adequate treatment in Albania.
These are two families of four, and they each have one terminally ill child, one with a heart condition, the other with cystic fibrosis.
Given the children’s medical conditions, their deportation stirred protests in Iceland, especially on social media, resulting in Alþingi’s (the Icelandic parliament) taking up their case and ultimately granting them citizenship.
The families’ friends in Iceland started a fund drive in their support, collecting ISK 4.5 million (USD 34,400, EUR 31,100), which will, among other things, be used to cover their travel costs from Albania to Munich, and from Munich to Berlin. The families will then fly free with WOW Air to Keflavík.
