A Ghanaian migrant who was facing deportation from Malta took his own life on Saturday after he was forced to “feel like a criminal” by a new immigration policy in that country.
The Times of Malta reports that, Frederick Ofosu, 33, was found strangled with an electric cable in a Qawra building site on Saturday night.
He left a recorded message for friends explaining his despair, saying he was being forced to feel like a criminal when he had done no wrong, according to Ahmed Bugri, director for the Foundation for Shelter and Support for Migrants.
Dr Bugri who identified the victim together with a Ghanaian embassy official, said the government’s decision to review the so-called THPn system had forced him to the edge.
However, the Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said the victim had applied for assisted voluntary return scheme to return to Ghana last September.
His return process could not be concluded because there were other pending court cases.
Mr Abela said that in 2013 and 2014 the victim had applied for the so-called Temporary Humanitarian Protection-New (THPn) status but the Refugee Commissioner had turned it down.
There are an estimated 1,200 migrants who fall under THPnto failed asylum seekers.
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(Nana Kwesi)