For them, the coronavirus crisis could mean a forced return to the country. Fifteen Iranian students enrolled in universities in Budapest, Hungary, have been threatened with expulsion since Monday March 16 for failing to "Not have followed the instructions" in quarantines related to the disease, according to the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior. Facts that the students dispute, while the nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban linked immigration and coronavirus. "They turned public opinion against us by wrongly masquerading as outlaws", denounce to World one of these students, on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals while currently under house arrest.
It all started in early March, when two Iranians returning from their country tested positive for Covid-19. These are the first two cases in Hungary. Mr Orban therefore denounces the role of immigration in the spread of the virus. "As population movements spread the disease, and immigration is a movement in itself, there is a logical link between the two elements, he says. The epidemic was brought to Hungary by foreigners and is spreading among foreigners. " It does not matter that the Iranian students are all legally present in Hungarian territory, where they pay tuition fees of more than 10,000 euros per year.
Following this screening, all their contacts, including several other foreign students, were placed in compulsory quarantine in a hospital in the capital. This is where the versions diverge. Interior Ministry says Iranians "Were aggressive with staff and left the quarantine room without permission". An Iranian is even accused of throwing chairs out the window. In the wake, the Hungarian government multiplies on Facebook the messages announcing that "Iranians who do not cooperate with health authorities, we will expel them".
"Mind-blowing charges"
After quarantine on March 12, most Iranian students are indeed expected by the police. "We were handed over deportations with overwhelming charges, such as acting against national security or committing violence against hospital workers. None of us had done this, " assures the student interviewed by The world, who just recognizes some tension. “The police came to pick us up at 3 am, without warning, to quarantine us, the Iranians, the Koreans and the Nigerians, but not the Italians. At the hospital, they mixed us up when we didn't know who was sick and who wasn't. We just challenged this decision. "
