LONDON: A Libyan coastguard vessel involved in the shooting of a Sicilian fisherman on May 6 was given to Tripoli by Italy to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean, it has emerged.
Col. Massoud Abdalsamad of the Libyan coastguard told Italian media that the ship “fired warning shots into the air against vessels which had allegedly trespassed into Libyan waters.” Three Italian fishing boats had entered its territorial waters without permission in search of red prawns.
Giuseppe Giacalone, captain of one of the fishing boats, told Italian news agency ANSA: “It is a miracle we are alive. We were shot at. The cabin of our boat is full of holes.
Italyâs Anti-Mafia Directorate and the âDirty Campaignâ to Criminalize Migration
Migrants from Morocco and Bangladesh wait on an overcrowded wooden boat off the coast of Libya for aid workers from the Spanish search-and-rescue group Open Arms on Jan. 10, 2020.Photo: Santi Palacios/APMigrants from Morocco and Bangladesh wait on an overcrowded wooden boat off the coast of Libya for aid workers from the Spanish search-and-rescue group Open Arms on Jan. 10, 2020.Photo: Santi Palacios/AP
April 30 2021, 8:00Â a.m.
Afana Dieudonne often says that he is not a superhero. Thatâs Dieudonneâs way of saying heâs done things heâs not proud of â just like anyone in his situation would, he says, in order to survive. From his home in Cameroon to Tunisia by air, then by car and foot into the desert, across the border into Libya, and onto a rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Dieudonne has done a lot of surviving.
Libya releases man described as one of world’s most wanted human traffickers Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo
Libyan authorities have released a man described as one of the world’s most wanted human traffickers, who was placed under sanctions by the UN security council for being directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats.
The coastguard commander Abd al-Rahman Milad, known by his alias Bija, is suspected of being part of a criminal network operating in Zawiyah in north-west Libya. He was arrested in 2019 but was freed on Sunday after the military attorney general of Tripoli dropped charges against him “for lack of evidence”.
ROME: Members of left-wing political party Sinistra Italiana expressed their dismay at Libyan authorities’ decision to release a man considered by the UN to be one of the country’s most wanted human traffickers.
Abd Al-Rahman Milad, known as Bija, was arrested on suspicion of being part of a criminal network operating in northwest Libya.
He was released less than four months after his arrest in Tripoli. The city’s military attorney general dropped the charges against him “for lack of evidence.”
Italian newspaper Avvenire reported that Bija and five other Libyans were placed under sanctions in 2018 by the UN Security Council for being directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats.