BBC Documentary Raises Questions About Investigation Into El Hiblu Teens Facing Terrorism Charges In Malta
Serious questions have been raised about the manner in which the police have investigated and charged three young migrants with terrorism, after they were brought to Malta after being rescued by the El Hiblu tanker as they were crossing Malta.
The three youths aged 15, 16 and 19 at the time, were among a group of migrants rescued by the tanker after it had been directed to do so by the authorities after the boat they were on found itself in distress.
After initially setting course for Libya, the tanker eventually started heading towards Malta, with reports emerging as it approached that it had been hijacked.
The Maltese armed forces had boarded and seized control of the ship and the three youths were charged in court with unlawfully seizing a vessel and terrorism, among other charges.
The teens have been waiting to stand trial for over two years now, with the prospect of having to spend the rest of their life in jail hanging over their heads every day.
The documentary met with the teens as well as other migrants who were rescued with them, all of whom painted a very different picture to what has been said by investigators.
“If it wasn’t for these three boys, we wouldn’t be here speaking,” one of the migrants rescued along with them said. He has since moved away from Malta but was tracked down by the BBC.
“We probably would all have died because, actually, the boys were protecting the captain against the anger of our group. We were 100 people, so desperate and hungry, we were ready to do anything not to go back to Libya. These three boys were actually his guardians, who protected him from being harmed, who saved everyone from being harmed.”
The man said he had tried to speak to the authorities and give his evidence but was not allowed to. While the police had rushed to take evidence from the captain and crew, it did not take a statement from any of the other migrants.
The boys describe to their interviewers how after initially being told they would be going to Europe they had gone to sleep, only to wake up the next morning and see the Libyan shore.
This sent the migrants into a frenzy, causing them to protest with the captain. One of the teens describes how he was the only one who could speak English – the only other language spoken by the captain – and had helped to diffuse the situation.
In fact, he said the captain had asked for him when tensions started to rise.
“He had full control of the boat, I didn’t shout at him, I didn’t fight with him. I was talking to the captain, I went on my knees, crying. He was not scared but he felt sorry for us. I think it was politics to save his ship and put the problem on us,” he said.
The documentary was unable to secure a meeting with any of the authorities investigating the case. It did, however, manage to obtain a meeting with Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo who had nothing to say other than that Malta was not given enough credit for rescuing migrants crossing through the central Mediterranean route.
Malta has faced calls for leniency with the youths from various quarters, including the United Nations’ human rights office which has called on Malta to drop the “exaggerated” terrorism charges against them.
You can listen to the full documentary here.
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