Rights official: Italy unustly holding migrants on boat

A delegation from Italy’s rights office on Thursday visited the 150 migrants who have been kept onboard a coast guard vessel for days and concluded they were being held unjustly.

The comments challenge Italy’s anti-migrant interior minister, who has declared that no migrants whom he considers “illegal” will set foot in a Sicilian port. Daniela de Robert, the rights delegation chief, spoke after a three-hour visit aboard the Italian coast guard vessel Diciotti, which is docked in Catania on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

She told Sky TG24 TV that the migrants on the boat come from countries that could make them eligible for international protection. She said nearly 90 per cent are from Eritrea, while the others are from Syria, Sudan and Somalia. Migrants sit on the deck of the Catania harbor, Italy, Thursday.. Italian Coast Guard ship

“We found what we thought we’d find: persons deprived of freedom without any measure from judicial authorities,” the Italian news agency ANSA quoted her as saying.

She described the situation as a rights violation that would be Diciotti at the

brought to the attention of prosecutors in Sicily. The office’s formal title is “national guarantor of the rights of persons detained or deprived of personal liberty.”

The Diciotti rescued the migrants on Aug. 16 after they set sail from Libya.