VALLETTA: Maltese authorities said Thursday the migrants on board the rescue ship Lifeline, which docked in Malta after nearly a week stranded at sea, were mainly from Sudan.
“The nationalities so far are mostly Sudanese, there are Eritreans, also Somalis so it’s a mixed group and also some from West African countries,” Roberta Buhagiar, a representative from Malta’s interior ministry told journalists.
Lifeline, a vessel for the German charity Mission Lifeline, had been waiting for permission to enter a port for six days after rescuing 234 migrants off the coast of Libya last Thursday.
Malta finally agreed on Wednesday to let the ship dock after a deal among a group of EU states was reached to take in the migrants.
After the migrants had disembarked, “a few were taken to hospital for immediate medical attention,” Buhagiar said, while the rest were brought to a reception center near the country’s capital Valletta.
She said they would stay there pending medical clearance to begin interviews on the asylum procedure.
On Wednesday, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the migrants on board would be processed and “genuine asylum seekers will be afforded protection,” while “procedures will be started immediately to return those that do not qualify... in accordance with law.”
Buhagiar added that “in the coming days, we will expect member state delegations to be visiting Malta in order to agree how we are going to manage the situation and actually take some of them.”
The co-founder of Mission Lifeline Axel Steier told AFP Thursday that he believed “a very, very high percentage” of those on board qualified for asylum in the European Union.
On Wednesday Muscat said the Lifeline ship would be impounded in order to carry out a full investigation into its legal status and actions on the night of the rescue.
Mission Lifeline has come under fire from EU leaders, who accuse it of contravening international law by rescuing the migrants when the Libyan coast guard was already intervening.
“The captain was questioned (late Wednesday) as part of the investigation and then returned to the ship,” Steier told AFP, adding that he had returned to police headquarters again Thursday.
“We followed all the instructions of the authorities except the one saying to bring the people back to Libya,” he said.
Lifeline argued that the migrants would not be safe in Libya, where they have faced abuse in holding centers, and that returning them there would breach international refugee law.
Malta says migrants on board Lifeline rescue ship mainly Sudanese
Malta says migrants on board Lifeline rescue ship mainly Sudanese
- Malta says the migrants on board the rescue ship Lifeline were mainly from Sudan.
- The are also Eritreans, Somalis and some from West African countries
France investigates two Franco-Israelis for ‘complicity in genocide’
- The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report
PARIS: French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for “complicity in genocide” over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid entering conflict stricken Gaza, a legal source said Monday.
According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible “complicity in genocide.”
The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report.
The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.
The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts.
Olivier Pardo, a lawyer for Kupfer-Naouri, said the “pacifist” actions sought to condemn the “hijacking” of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups that launched the October 7, 2023 attacks that set off the Gaza war.
“If peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid, diverting it, and reselling it at exorbitant prices to Gazans is a crime — then there is no need to look down on the mullahs, France is Iran!” said Touitou, 34, on her social media account.
In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, called the French investigation “anti-semitic madness.”
Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri was in Israel but was ready to speak to French investigators there.
The two activists are also suspected of “public provocation for genocide” by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.
Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.
The complaints were made last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind in genocide law.
Other legal complaints have also been made in France for “war crimes” over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory.
Another complaint is over the Hamas attack that set off the war.
