A judge has ordered the separation of the court case of a young Ivorian man, who is believed to have absconded to avoid standing trial for hijacking the oil tanker El Hilblu, from that of another two young men facing the same charges.
Madame Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera ordered the separation after hearing police inspector Omar Zammit testify that Abdul Kader had absconded and police issued an international and European arrest warrant.
"Kader has been missing since summer. To date, we have no information about his whereabouts,” the inspector said.
He was testifying during a sitting held to legally challenge aspects of the bill of indictment - ahead of the trial.
Kader is one of the three young men accused of hijacking an oil tanker when they were 15, 16 and 19 years.
The other two are Amara Kromah, the youngest, and Abdalla Bari, the eldest. Both are from Guinea.
The judge ordered that the case against Kromah and Bari be heard separately from the case against Kader to allow the proceeding to keep going in light of his absence.
Last November, the Attorney General issued a bill of indictment against the men, essentially meaning they will stand trial and face terrorism charges.
The AG’s decision restarted a case that lay dormant for more than a year after prosecutors finished presenting their evidence against the accused in September 2022.
All three could face life sentences in prison if found guilty.
The decision dismayed international activists who have campaigned for the case against the accused, dubbed the El Hiblu 3, to be dropped.
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.
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.