The Administrative Court in Hesse-Kassel ruled on Monday that men fleeing compulsory service in Syria should not be recognized as refugees.

This case concerned a 26-year-old Syrian man who filed a lawsuit against the Immigration and Asylum Service, after he was granted "secondary protection status", according to which he would not be able to bring his family to Germany as part of a family reunification.

The court said there was a "high probability" that the plaintiff was not threatened with "possible persecution due to evasion of military service."

"People who evaded military service by leaving the country illegally are not punished after returning to Syria, but are usually recruited directly for military service," he added in the ruling.