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IMMIGRATION

Rescue ship committed no offence: Italian prosecutor

Migrant rescue ship Sea Watch 3 committed no offences when it saved 47 migrants off the coast of Libya and delivered them to Italy, an Italian prosecutor said Saturday.

Published: 3 February 2019 11:38 CET
Rescue ship committed no offence: Italian prosecutor
People stage a protest shortly before Sea Watch 3 docks at Catania on January 31st. Photo: AFP

A joint investigation with police had not established any criminal responsibility in the conduct of those running the Sea Watch 3, said a statement from Catania prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro.

Sea Watch was detained at the Sicilian port for breaching navigation safety and environmental laws, the Italian coastguard reported Friday.

The prosecutor's analysis of their conduct — from when they saved the migrants on January 19 to their arrival at Catania on Thursday — concluded that all their actions had been justified.

The court had nevertheless opened an investigation into illegal immigration which, while not naming anyone in particular, was directly mainly at human traffickers, as happens with all migrant arrivals.

Zuccaro's ruling represents a setback for Italy's far-right, anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini. He insisted earlier this week that he had all the evidence required to prove the crew had committed offences.

Salvini said on Wednesday that he was looking at ways to ban migrant rescue ships from Italian waters.

Sea Watch 3 was only allowed to anchor in Catania after six other countries agreed to take in the migrants, who include 15 minors.

The crew of the Dutch-flagged ship had expected the vessel to be detained or impounded as a show of strength from Salvini. Zuccaro himself has made a name for himself as a legal thorn in the side of migrant rescue organisations.

In March 2018 he impounded the Open Arms ship while investigating the crew for allegedly aiding illegal migrants by refusing to hand them over to the Libyan coastguard.

The ship was released after a month following a court ruling that Libya could not be considered a safe country because of a lack of safeguards for human rights, but the investigation continues.

Saturday's statement from Catania is in line with a similar one issued at Syracuse, a Sicilian city that cleared Sea Watch of any wrongdoing after holding the boat for several days.

Sea Watch 3 is still being held in Catania however, until the question of the alleged offences reported by the Italian coastguard Friday have been resolved.

READ ALSO: Sea Watch rescue ship detained by Italy coast guard

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CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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