The El Hiblu 3 are still not free

On the morning of March 28, 2019 the crew steered the El Hiblu tanker with 108 refugees on board, including 19 women and 12 children, toward Malta.

The refugees helped let down the ladder to enable the AFM to embark, relieved at last to be close to safe shores after many near-death experiences. But three young men, who helped the first officer communicate, were handcuffed and imprisoned in a shallow show of strength over the most vulnerable.

The charges against the two children and a 19-year-old father are politically and not judicially driven; the alleged actions took place far outside Malta’s territory and jurisdiction. In addition, there is no evidence of harm done to the tanker’s crew, nor of any weapons.

In short, there is no evidence of terrorism. The charges are not being made in the public interest, rather, the Maltese authorities are using criminal labels as a weapon in a costly show trial.

In nearby Sicily, the Iuventa case was also based on unfounded accusations and a flawed investigation driven by political motives. After a seven-year ordeal, the crew of the migrant ship has just been acquitted.

They were criminalised for helping at-risk refugees and migrants at sea. But the prosecutors asked for the charges to be dropped due to a lack of evidence. Francesca Cancellaro, one of the Iuventa lawyers, said the case should not have gone to trial in the first place.

“We are pleased with the prosecution’s change of mind after seven years,” she said.

“However, this is not how a state of law operates. Charges should only be pressed after a thorough investigation and collection of all available evidence. Initiating a trial without proper groundwork is unjust and places undue burden on the defendants.”

On the fifth anniversary of his rescue and arrival in Malta at the tender age of 15, Amara Kromah received an outstanding Human Rights Defender Award.

Together, we looked back and reflected on the last five years. He recounted that what he did was in the public interest; he volunteered to translate for the tanker’s first officer when he said he would rescue the refugees on the sinking dinghy but, later, when the tanker turned around heading back to Libya, he was reluctant to mediate again.

“Most of the people thought I had conspired with the officer and I was afraid,” said Amara, “I did not want to translate again.” Nevertheless, he translated because it was in the interests of the people’s safety to do so.

This act of translation, however, started a lengthy process at court. He shares how there is no evidence for the charges since the evidence, including the camera recordings, are on the ship but the captain, his crew and ship left Malta after five days.

It took the court two years to call a witness for the defence and, by then, half of the asylum seekers had left Malta. Amara goes on to say they have been at monthly court hearings where they could have given the evidence and tell the truth. But they have never been asked to testify in five years: “We just sit there and try to understand what is going on.”

All this led to a life being delayed. As Amara says: “These have been the worst five years of my life. I never dreamt of it being like this. My life has been delayed by five years. I have a lot of dreams that I would like to realise but I find myself in this situation where my life has been driven backwards.”

Five years later, Amara finds himself still constrained: “I am no longer physically in prison but I am mentally. I always have to think twice. In short, my life is on hold. My life has been taken away from me for five good years.”

Amara, Abdalla and Kader have already lost their youth. How much more will these upstanding young men lose if justice does not prevail now?

“It took the court two years to call a witness for the defence

Yana Mintoff and Julia Alegre Mouslim are members of the Association for Justice, Equality and Peace.