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Screenshot of the "Samira must stay with us" petition launched by Raphaël Glucksmann on the exchange.org platform. change.org

Following a strong citizen mobilization, the application for residence of Samira, a girl Ivorian 10 years threatened with excision in his country, and his father will be re-examined, said Saturday, November 9 the French Minister of the Interior.

Samira and her father were to be deported on Tuesday; they come this Saturday to get a reprieve. Their right to stay " will be reviewed, given their special family situation, " said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. " The question is not resolved, reacted to the AFP MEP Raphael Glucksmann, at the head of the broad mobilization to prevent their expulsion. We do not know if they will give them a residence permit or not. "

The girl, educated in France, fled the Ivory Coast with her parents " to escape excision, " says the elected party leftist Place public in a petition that has collected more than 150,000 signatures. " She is a survivor of rescue operations in the Mediterranean. During the crossing, she lost her mother, "Raphael Glucksmann wrote again. Arrived last January in France via Italy, they had to be expelled to Venice, in accordance with the Dublin Regulation which entrusts the study of the asylum application to the country of entry into Europe.

" Given the residence permit obtained by the father in Italy, he is not entitled in the state, after a review of his situation, his request to stay with his daughter on the French territory, " explained to AFP the police prefecture. " The Italian authorities have accepted their return, they are the subject of an organized departure and not an expulsion order with a planned flight Tuesday, November 12, " she said.

In addition to the petition, nearly 200 personalities signed Saturday an open letter addressed to President Emmanuel Macron. Among the signatories of the text are the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, former Socialist Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, actor Dany Boon or PSG player Marco Verratti.

For Diaryatou Bah, president of the association Excision Let's Talk, refusing to welcome Samira, France would have sent the wrong signal. " We must do everything we can to protect the girls who are on French soil and prevent them from going back to their country or, if they return, whether it is in much safer conditions than this little girl " , she told RFI.

Even if her file is not definitively settled, Samira can stay in France for the moment. She can also continue to go to school, she who dreams of becoming a teacher or doctor.

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