Mariam* managed to flee Morocco, where she was being trafficked and forced to marry against her will. She entered Greece seeking protection; instead, she fell victim of a newly introduced criminal law on illegal entry and faced criminal prosecution, administrative detention, imprisonment, and humiliation.

This new law of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MoMA) was introduced and voted in the Greek Parliament in September 2025. Law 5226/2025 criminalised for the first time illegal stay and tightened penalties for illegal entry into and exit from the country for people on the move. Under the new legal framework, one may face a sentence of at least two years in case of conviction — a sentence which they can only hope to suspend by declaring that they are willing to leave Greece voluntarily.

Upon her entry into the country in September 2025, Mariam was apprehended by the Greek authorities and taken to a summary court hearing (“flagrant proceedings”) where she was tried and convicted for entering the country illegally and using forged documents to do so. Because of the systemic shortcomings of state-provided legal aid and the uncertainty caused by the new law among authorities, Mariam made a declaration before the Criminal Court to leave the country voluntarily, hoping to suspend her sentence.

After her trial, she was never informed of her right to appeal her conviction and was immediately taken to administrative detention for the purpose of her return to Morocco. She was placed in the Kos Pre-Removal Detention Centre (PRDC), where she was subjected to inhuman and degrading conditions. Most worryingly, she was unlawfully detained alongside men, despite her obvious vulnerability and background.

There, she first met with lawyers from Equal Rights Beyond Borders, who intervened to have her asylum claim registered despite impediments by police authorities, and appealed her conviction. Following the registration of her asylum application and upon approval from the Public Prosecutor, the police arranged for Mariam’s transfer and imprisonment at the Eleonas Women’s Prison, perceiving Mariam’s application for international protection as a withdrawal of her declaration to leave the country voluntarily, thus a violation of the condition that had led to the suspension of her sentence. 

As such, Mariam became the first woman to be imprisoned in Greece solely because she applied for international protection!

Equal Rights represented Mariam’s asylum claim against the initial failure of MoMA, the police, and the prosecutorial and judicial authorities to acknowledge her vulnerability — and despite the fact that, according to the Greek state (and now the European Union too), she originates from a country presumed to be safe. After months in prison, Mariam was recently finally recognised as a refugee by the Appeals Authority.

Equal Rights then successfully filed a motion to suspend her sentence until the hearing of her appeal before the Criminal Court. As of Friday, Mariam is finally free to enjoy her protection as a refugee and a woman with special reception and psychosocial protection needs.

According to Christina Balta, the lawyer who represented her in the proceedings, “the exercise of the fundamental right to asylum cannot, under any circumstances, be considered a violation of the terms of a suspended sentence. Using criminal law provisions to serve an administrative agenda of returns runs counter to the rule of law and criminalises people on the move. Besides, when the only alternative is imprisonment, refugees are forced to declare that they will leave the country voluntarily — which clearly amounts to a violation of the principle of non-refoulement”.

Mariam now awaits final justice in the Court of Appeals on June 3. Equal Rights will be by her side.

*Mariam’s name has been changed for privacy and protection reasons.

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Contact: press@equal-rights.org