Seventeen organisations have united in a joint call for the halt of proceedings against three teenagers charged with terrorist activity for their role in the alleged hijack of the El Hiblu 1.
The organisations said that although they were released on bail on November 15, against a number of severe restrictions, the three men still faced the risk of a long sentence in prison if they were found guilty.
The El Hiblu 1 was taken over by Armed Forces of Malta personnel and brought to port late in March after its captain issued an alert saying the vessel had been hijacked by a group of migrants rescued at sea.
The captain told the court that the accused – who are aged just 15, 16 and 19 – acted aggressively and circled the bridge, making sure the ship was heading to Malta at full throttle.
The organisations said the young men’s ‘crime’ came down to saving their lives and those of the other 105 passengers from illegal pushbacks to the same Libyan torture camps they had escaped from.
Their trial, they said, came at a time when government sources had eventually confirmed that a dirty deal between Malta and Libya was in place to block refugees from reaching European shores.
This deal was part of the criminal EU policy of collaboration with the Libyan authorities, which resulted in their capacity to perform systematic and illegal pull-backs of people escaping from Libya, forcing them to go back to detention and to the continuous violation of their fundamental rights.
The organisations called on the courts to immediately end the proceedings and respect the inalienable human right to seek protection from persecution and the principle of non-refoulement as anchored in the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention for Human Rights.
The organisations signing the statement are WatchTheMed Alarm Phone, Sea-Watch, Mediterranea, ProAsyl, iuventa10, African Media Association Malta, Integra Foundation, Borderline Europe, Kopin, Sea-Eye, Resqship, Mission Lifeline, Jugend Rettet, Isles of the Left, Moviment Graffitti, SOS Malta and Seebrücke.