Germany rejects asylum claim by deported convict

BERLIN – German officials have rejected an asylum request from a Lebanese man who was convicted of drug dealing and deported but then returned to Germany.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Friday that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had rejected Ibrahim Miri’s application as “clearly unfounded” and authorities are preparing to deport him again.

Miri’s lawyer said he would appeal the decision.

Miri was deported to Lebanon in July and was banned from re-entering Europe’s visa-free Schengen travel area, which includes Germany. However, he reappeared in the German city of Bremen late last month, applied for asylum and was arrested.

Seehofer said that border police controls have been tightened to ensure that people who are banned from re-entering the country are kept out.