A Somali migrant is asking for government intervention to bring over his pregnant wife from Libya.
A Somali man who was separated from his pregnant wife during a rescue operation at sea is appealing to the Maltese authorities to do all they can to bring her over from Libya.
"I am thinking of her all the time," Ahmed Mahmoud Muhammed, 25, told The Sunday Times from the Safi detention centre where he has been living for the past week since being rescued from a sinking dinghy on July 17.
He is one of 28 migrants transferred to the Maltese patrol boat in a controversial joint rescue operation, which saw another 27 being transferred to a Libyan coast guard ship.
Mr Muhammed, nicknamed Gino, claimed that his wife, Mariam Hussen, 19, who is seven months pregnant, was one of the migrants taken back to Libya.
Speaking to this newspaper with the help of another English-speaking Somali who was on the same dinghy, Mr Muhammed said he wanted his wife to be brought to Malta.
"Please, I ask the government to bring Mariam here," he pleaded.
Along with the other migrants who were taken back to Libya, Ms Hussen was jailed on arrival but she was released a few days later.
She is currently living with relatives and friends. When contacted on Friday, through the help of a relative who spoke English, Ms Hussen said she wanted to be beside her husband in Malta.
The law only allows recognised refugees to automatically bring over family members. Coming from war-torn Somalia, Mr Muhammed will probably be given subsidiary protection, which means that his request has little legal standing, according to a human rights lawyer.
Even if the circumstances of this case are very particular given that both people were on the same dinghy and were separated during the rescue operation, it would probably have to be a government decision that allows Ms Hussen to come to Malta.
Mr Muhammed claims he informed Maltese soldiers that his wife was on the Libyan boat but they kept insisting that he also boarded the Libyan ship to identify her.
He refused to do so out of fear that both of them would be sent back to Libya, losing all hope of getting out of the place immigrants describe as "hell".
The Armed Forces (AFM) has denied the allegation, insisting none of the individuals who embarked the AFM vessel at anytime during the rescue operation, transit to Malta or subsequent police interviews drew the attention of any Maltese official that they had originally been accompanied by a spouse or partner from whom they were subsequently separated.
"In the three cases where soldiers were made aware that people who boarded the Maltese patrol boat were accompanied by spouses, these were identified and reunited with their respective partners on board the AFM vessel," the army spokesman said.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com