By DPA,
Copenhagen : An Iraqi interpreter, who was recently granted asylum in Denmark but was asked to divorce one of his two wives, has opted to return to Iraq instead, reports said Tuesday.
“It was a difficult decision for them, but now they have left to see how things are in Basra,” lawyer Marianne Volund told the Nyhedsavisen newspaper.
The interpreter was among the 200 Iraqis including family members offered asylum when Denmark last year withdrew its troops from southern Iraq.
Iraqi interpreters and others who have served with foreign organisations or allied forces have often been targeted by militant groups.
Volund said the interpreter and his family “missed Iraq” but were also fearful of returning. “But they were also troubled by the attention their case had generated,” she added.
In April, the family services department at the justice ministry said it was weighing legal action against the interpreter over possible bigamy unless he voluntarily divorced one of the women he married in his native Iraq.
The man married his first wife in 1995 and the second wife in 2003. He has children with both women.
Both the interpreter and the two women have refugee status and none of the women would be deported from Denmark in case of a divorce.
Some 30 other Iraqis including children recently flew to Baghdad, partly after failing to find employment in Denmark.