It has also been signed by 12 MEPs – namely Pietro Bartolo, Clare Daly, Damian Boeselager, Damien Carême, Dietmar Köster, Domènec Ruiz Devesa, Erik Marquardt, Cornelia Ernst, Grace O Sullivan, Saskia Bricmont, Thijs Reuten, and Tineke Strik.

A number of Maltese Catholic organisations, including the Migrants Commission, the Justice & Peace Commission, the JRS Malta and others, have signed it too.

“The signatories represent a wide spectrum of networks and individuals that are convinced that the imprisonment and prosecution of the El Hiblu 3 constitutes a deep injustice,” the campaign said.

Over 1,000 people are urging the Maltese authorities to drop terrorism charges against three young asylum seekers who had allegedly coerced a ship that had rescued them to change its course from Libya to Malta.

The Free El Hiblu 3 campaign delivered an open letter to Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg yesterday with the signatures of a number of prominent people, including former Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

It has also been signed by 12 MEPs – namely Pietro Bartolo, Clare Daly, Damian Boeselager, Damien Carême, Dietmar Köster, Domènec Ruiz Devesa, Erik Marquardt, Cornelia Ernst, Grace O Sullivan, Saskia Bricmont, Thijs Reuten, and Tineke Strik.

A number of Maltese Catholic organisations, including the Migrants Commission, the Justice & Peace Commission, the JRS Malta and others, have signed it too.

Abdalla, Amara and Kader were aged 15, 16 and 19 when they were hit with terror-related charges in 2019 for allegedly coercing the captain of El Hiblu 1, who had rescued them and a group of migrants, to change his ship’s course from Libya to Malta.

What exactly happened on board remains unclear. The captain, Nadar El-Hiblu, said that while no violence was used, the migrants acted aggressively to the point crew members had to lock themselves up in a room.

Describing the three young men as the “ringleaders” and said he only changed his course out of fear that the migrants would outnumber his crew.

However, other migrants who were on board painted a different picture of events, stating that the ‘El Hiblu 3’ acted as mediators between the captain and the rest of the migrants because they were the only ones who could speak in English.

A migrant testified that while they did shout out when they found out they were being returned to Libya, they obeyed the captain when he told them to calm down. The captain then decided to send them to Europe.  

The plight of the ‘El Hiblu 3’ has made waves internationally, with the United Nations denouncing the terrorism charges as “exaggerated” and Amnesty International urging the authorities to drop the case.

Cover photo: Free El Hiblu 3 – Joanna Demarco

Should the terrorism charges against the three young men be dropped?