Updated 12.20pm

More than 1,000 people and organisations, including President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, have signed an open letter demanding the withdrawal of charges against three African youths who are accused of hijacking a ship in 2019.

The open letter, presented to Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg on Thursday, insists that the youths should not continue facing prosecution and is demanding their immediate release.

The organisations and individuals urged the government and the office of the attorney general to drop the case against the youths, known as the El Hiblu 3, and to immediately dismiss their trial.

The case goes back to March of 2019 when the merchant vessel El Hiblu rescued 108 people from a rubber boat. Some migrants remained on the dinghy as they feared they would be pushed back to Libya. They disappeared and are presumed dead.

From left to right: Yana Mintoff, Maria Pisani and Marie louise Coleiro Preca hand over the letter on Thursday. Photo: Jonathan Borg

El Hiblu was instructed to take the people aboard to Libya, an unsafe port.

When the migrants recognised the Libyan shore, they protested, some saying they would rather throw themselves overboard than return to the country they had fled.

Abdalla, Amara and Kader intervened to calm the situation, according to testimony. They acted as mediators between scared passengers and a scared crew.

The armed forces boarded the ship as it approached local waters, following reports that migrants had seized control of the vessel and forced it to head to Europe. The young men – then aged 15, 16 and 19 – were arrested upon their arrival and charged with crimes amounting to terrorist activity.

They have pleaded not guilty.

They were held in preventive custody  for seven months before being released on bail in November 2019.

Could spend 30 years in prison

Since then, they are having to sign every day at the police station and attend monthly hearings during which the prosecution seeks to establish the potential charges to be brought forward.

If found guilty by a jury, the three could face 30 years in prison.

“As the El Hiblu 3 pre-trial hearings come to a close, the attorney general must now decide which charges to bring against the three young men,” the letter states.

“We thus reiterate our demand that all charges be dropped and the trial be dismissed immediately. Instead of being prosecuted, the El Hiblu 3 should be celebrated for their actions in preventing the return of 108 people to Libya.”

The signatories said they were convinced that the imprisonment and prosecution of Abdalla, Amara and Kader constitute a deep injustice.

“We call on the attorney general to end the uncertainty of the three young men. It is high time to drop the charges,” they added in the letter.

The list of signatories also includes members of the European Parliament.