A 16-year-old girl has been handed a suspended sentence for using a stolen passport to flee to Malta from her home country, where she faced religious persecution. 

The decision came after an Appeals Court earlier this month quashed an effective prison sentence handed down to two Turkish mothers who were separated from their young sons and jailed for using forged passports.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli told the teenager that although the crime carried a prison sentence, she was handing down a suspended jail term after taking into consideration her age as well as the circumstances of the case.

The court heard how the girl had been helped to escape her home country by her father after members of her prayer group had “disappeared”.

The prosecution and defence agreed that an effective prison sentence was not necessary in this case.

The magistrate imposed a ban on certain details of the case to protect the underage girl.

The court heard prosecuting officer Frankie Sammut explaining that this was a “genuine case” and that the girl was “vulnerable”. He said she was caught by police at the airport after trying to use a Danish passport that had been reported stolen.

He said the girl did not even know she was in Malta and in fact asked the police in which country she was when she was arrested.

The girl’s lawyer, Benjamin Valenzia explained that this was a delicate case and told the court that the girl would be applying for asylum on the grounds of religious persecution because of what had happened to her friends. He said the girl was hoping to reunite with family members in another part of Europe.

During the court sitting, Magistrate Demicoli observed that the girl was sobbing and looked pale and fearful. “She has no reason to fear. The authorities are already taking care of her wellbeing,” the magistrate told her translator to reassure her.

The Association for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers will be helping the girl, the court was told.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed that an effective prison sentence was not necessary in this case.

The court sentenced her to two months in prison, suspended for eight months.

The case bears striking similarities with a case involving two Turkish mothers, Rabia Yavuz, 27, and Muzekka Deneri, 29, both teachers, who in July admitted to using forged travel papers as they sought to avoid repatriation to Turkey, after having fled in the attempted coup d’etat of 2016.

They successfully appealed the punishment, with Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja deciding earlier this month that although the prison sentence was the least possible and was well within the parameters of the law, there were grounds for a reduction in the punishment. He said the authorities should not put everyone in the same basket while the court needs to treat cases individually and on their own merit.