PL MEP Cyrus Engerer flagged the deportation of Kusi Dismark last week and the 2021 death by suicide of Kim Borg, an inmate at Corradino Correctional Facility, when he addressed a European Parliament plenary debate on rising inequalities.

He also challenged fellow politicians about their stand on a ceasefire in Gaza, questioning their lack of political will over political convenience.

Engerer was reacting to comments by the Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen who said that while global inequalities were rising, they did not have to: “We have the financial resources and expertise to change the trend. We only need to match them with political will.”

Addressing the plenary, Engerer asked: “Political will commissioner? I think this is more political convenience for those who are in power”.

Among others, he referred to 11-year-old Razan from Gaza who lost her parents and three brothers when their neighbour’s house was bombed and who later had her leg amputated.

Razan, Engerer said, had lost the majority of her family like more than 17,000 children in Gaza. "Where is the political will for ceasefire Commissioner", he asked.

“Kusi Dismark, 37, from Ghana living and paying taxes in Malta for 13 years. owning his own business was deported last week because 13 years ago he didn’t qualify for asylum. Where is the political will,” he added.

Dismark left Malta for Ghana on Friday morning despite calls for appeals for reconsideration on humanitarian grounds. 

The 37-year-old returned to Ghana after being detained on January 21 on the strength of a removal order. His sudden detention reported by Times of Malta had sent shockwaves among his circle of friends, Maltese landlords and civil society.

On Tuesday, Engerer also referred to Kim Borg, who in 2021 had died by suicide in prison at the age of 29. She was found unconscious in her cell and died at Mater Dei Hospital on July 4.

Engerer also flagged the case of a 22-year-old gay man from Yemen called Hossam who he said was kicked out of his home by his family and raped every day for food by a restaurateur while living in a cave for years.

Engerer told Times of Malta he has helped Hossam out of Yemen, and the man is now in a non-European country.

“Where is the political will commissioner for one European member state to at least offer him protection?