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Seven Tunisian fishermen were going on trial in Sicily yesterday for the crime of rescuing 44 migrants from certain death in the sea.
They are accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration. If convicted, they face between one and 15 years in jail.
The men were arrested last month after bringing the migrants ashore in Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island. They were remanded in custody and remained in jail until September 10, when five were released on bail and the two officers of the boat were put under house arrest.
On the morning of August 7, Abdelkarim Bayoudh and his crew had dropped anchor on a shelf 50km south of the island of Lampedusa. They had just turned in when they were woken by screams for help.
Coming out on deck, they saw a rubber boat crammed with people on the point of sinking. Among them were two children and 11 women - two of them pregnant and one elderly and badly ill.
In the crush to get aboard the fishing boat, two of the migrants went in the water. Two of the Tunisian crew dived in and rescued them.
Captain Bayoudh then headed for Lampedusa, where on arrival the Tunisians were arrested and thrown in jail. Experts say the charge of aiding illegal immigration is absurd.
The work of the criminals that run the migration racket finishes at the dock in Libya, where nearly all the crossings originate.
The true object of the trial, it is suspected, is to dissuade fishermen from doing their duty. If so, it is likely to be successful. The fact that the fishermen have spent more than a month in custody sends a clear message to others like them.
Laura Boldrini, of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, contrasts the behaviour of the Tunisians with that of other, unnamed fishermen reported to her who recently beat migrants trying to get into their boat with sticks, forcing them into the water where several drowned. No action was taken against them.
"We only know the tip of the iceberg of what happens in the Mediterranean," she said.
"We must rely on fishermen to rescue people in trouble or at the very least alert the maritime authorities."
Crossing to Europe by boat is an increasingly desperate gamble. The man put in charge of the boat may never have seen the sea before. Boats are getting smaller and flimsier by the year, and may not even have the fuel for the passage. Migrants can become the prey of pirates, or they may simply capsize and disappear.
Until recently there was good reason to believe that if boats in trouble managed to attract the attention of passing fishermen, they stood a good chance of being rescued. But now the odds on that are worsening.
The attitude shift was signalled by Malta. In 2005, a boat packed with 200 migrants was reported by the Maltese military off the island of Gozo. They were instructed to "keep a distance away from them".
Thirty of the migrants drowned before the rest were rescued by Italians. It now seems Italy has begun taking a similar hard line. The Tunisians radioed Lampedusa - but at the limit of Italian territorial waters a Coast Guard vessel approached and told them to turn back.
The captain said he ignored the order because of the children and pregnant women, and because they had already eaten and drunk everything on the ship. "If I hadn't done it they would have died."
- Independent
