Three young men accused of hijacking an oil tanker when they were 15, 16 and 19 years old are to go to trial to face terrorism charges, the Attorney General has decided.

The decision was formalised earlier this month when prosecutors filed a Bill of Indictment against Amara Kromah, Abdul Kader and Abdalla Bari.

Kader has been missing since summer and is believed to have fled Malta. If located, he will be brought to Malta to stand trial alongside the other two.  

All three could face life sentences in prison if found guilty. 

The AG decision restarts a case that lay dormant for more than a year after prosecutors finished presenting their evidence against the accused in September 2022.

It will dismay international activists who have campaigned for the case against the accused, dubbed the El Hiblu 3, to be dropped.  

While the bill of indictment has not been made public, it is understood that prosecutors have chosen to file nine separate charges against Kromah and Bari, including one accusing them of acts of terrorism. 

Lawyers representing the accused told Times of Malta that they have petitioned the criminal court to throw out the case.

They say the way prosecutors are interpreting certain criminal charges is stretched to the point of nullifying them, and that given that no evidence was presented to show that any crime was committed on Maltese territory, the case should be dismissed.

The El Hiblu saga

Bari, Kromah, and Kader are alleged to have hijacked the ship that rescued them at sea, the El Hiblu, after fearing that its captain was returning them to Libya.

As the tanker sailed to Malta, it was intercepted by an AFM special forces unit, which took control of the vessel and brought it to shore.

All three were detained, arrested and charged following that March 2019 incident.

The charges ranged from acts of terrorism to illegal arrest and private violence. They were just 15, 19 and 16 years old at the time.

The three were held in police custody for eight months and granted bail in November 2019.

They deny charges and say they were just serving as translators for others aboard the ship, as they spoke English and could communicate with the captain.  

Case caught global attention

The El Hiblu 3 case has received widespread international attention, with campaigning led by global human rights NGO Amnesty International and an international coalition of human rights advocates, scholars and religious leaders.

Former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has described the case as a “farce”, Archbishop Charles Scicluna has said charges should be dropped and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) has also criticised prosecutors' handling of the case. 

President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca speaks at a public event calling for charges against the El Hiblu 3 to be dropped. Photo: Jonathan Borg

A spokesperson for the Free the El Hiblu 3 campaign said that accused "deserve a medal, not a trial." 

"We’ve heard witnesses in court confirming that Amara, Abdalla and Kader were helping to prevent them from ending up in prison, slavery and torture in Libya," the spokesperson said, noting that three have now spent "almost a quarter of their lives" with the terrorism case looming over them. 

In a statement issued on Thursday morning the campaign said "we are aggrieved and angry that the Attorney General has ignored the testimonies heard during the compilation of evidence over the last four and a half years, which demonstrate the indisputable innocence of the El Hiblu 3.

"Instead, the Attorney General holds the three young men responsible for the general tension on board during and after rescue by the vessel El HIBLU 1.

"The Attorney General retained all the initial, unfounded charges, including the unsubstantiated charge of terrorism."

It said that in charging the three young men, the Maltese authorities have missed an opportunity to rectify a grave injustice that has unfolded over nearly five years.

"Their actions should be celebrated, instead of being criminalised. With widespread support nationally and internationally, we will continue to stand in solidarity with Abdalla, Amara, and Kader until they are acquitted."

Lawyers representing Bari and Kromah said they believe the Bill of Indictment should be dismissed by the court. 

In their reply to the bill of indictment, they argued that prosecutors had failed to prove that a crime was committed in Maltese territory and were overly stretching the definitions of certain criminal charges. 

"The defence believes that such an interpretation weaponises the law against asylum seekers," one of the defendants' lawyers said. 

The defence intends to argue that Bari and Kromah acted as mediators during the tense situation aboard the El Hiblu and worked to calm a difficult situation. 

"Ultimately, their intentions were to save the lives of the men, women and children who had recently fled the horror of Libya," one of their lawyers said.