SYDNEY: An Iraqi man has been charged in Australia with people trafficking in connection with the drowning deaths of more than 350 asylum seekers in 2001, police said Saturday.
Maythem Radhi, 43, was arrested at Brisbane airport late Friday after being extradited from New Zealand and has been charged with "organising groups of non-citizens into Australia".
He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Police claim he was part of a syndicate that charged 421 mostly Iraqi and Afghan refugees for a place aboard an Indonesian fishing boat known by Australian authorities as SIEV-X in 2001.
The vessel sunk in the Indian Ocean while en route to Australia's Christmas Island, leaving 353 people dead, 146 of them children.
"Police will allege in court that the man, then aged 24, took payments from the passengers," the Australian Federal Police said in a statement on Saturday -- exactly 18 years after the disaster.
"It will also be alleged that he helped facilitate the transportation and accommodation of people in Indonesia in preparation for their journey to Australia," they added.
Radhi is the third person to face court for their role in the disaster.
Iraqi people smuggler Khaleed Shnayf Daoed was extradited from Sweden to Australia in 2003 and received a nine-year sentence two years later, with prosecutors portraying the then 36-year-old as a key organiser for Egyptian people smuggler Abu Quassey.
Quassey was convicted in Egypt in December 2003 of causing death through negligence and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Radhi is expected to appear in court later this month.
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Iraqi charged in Australia over deadly trafficking ring
Iraqi charged in Australia over deadly trafficking ring
- Police claim he was part of a syndicate that charged 421 mostly Iraqi and Afghan refugees for a place aboard an Indonesian fishing boat known by Australian authorities as SIEV-X in 2001
Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’
- Tehran has blamed the US for the strike, which happened in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province on Feb. 28
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on a school in the southern town of Minab.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.
Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.
Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.
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