Austrian authorities deported a convicted criminal to Syria on Thursday in the first EU deportation since President Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December.

“The deportation carried out today is part of a hard and therefore fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement. “We will continue the path of removing convicted criminals from the country with hard work and determination, also in the case of Syria.”

According to Austria’s Interior Ministry, this is the first such deportation in around 15 years. Rights groups warned the move could set a precedent for other EU countries amid rising anti-migrant sentiment.

The 32-year-old man was granted asylum in Austria in 2014 but lost his refugee status in 2019 due to his criminal record, his legal adviser Ruxandra Staicu said, according to Reuters. Austrian and Syrian authorities agreed to the deportation last week, but airspace closures caused by the Iran-Israel conflict delayed the process.

Austria, which hosts nearly 100,000 Syrians, was among the EU nations that suspended all Syrian asylum applications in December following Assad’s fall. Austria then went further by initiating procedures to revoke the status of around 2,900 refugees and halting family reunification — a policy the new conservative-led government under Chancellor Christian Stocker aims to extend to all nationalities.

In late April, Karner traveled to Syria with his German then-counterpart, Nancy Faeser, to discuss returns and deportations with local authorities.

Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Thursday he was seeking direct talks with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to facilitate the deportation of Afghan criminals from Germany.