An Eritrean migrant – who claims to have been part of a group of 264 migrants forced to return to Libya by a Maltese army patrol boat in 2005 – has rebuked the AFM Commander’s denial in MaltaToday and insisted that he has no reason to lie.
[maltatoday.com] In a letter sent to this newspaper from Washington, Bill Frelick, refugee policy director of Human Rights Watch, explained that the Eritrean migrant had read Brigadier Carmel Vassallo’s official denial published in MaltaToday on 27 September, and insisted on his version of facts as he had originally recounted them when interviewed by the international human rights organisation.
The Armed Forces of Malta have categorically denied ever having committed forced deportations of migrants back to Libya. The report, published by Human Rights Watch on Friday, quotes the 26-year-old Eritrean migrant who told rapporteurs about an incident at sea that happened in 2005.
The migrant, who spoke under the pseudonym ‘Daniel’, stressed that “when we were inside the boat a patrol boat arrived, with a Maltese flag. They threw water and biscuits at us, and we read on the water bottle that it was made in Malta.”
Daniel went on to explain that while the Maltese crew was giving them provisions, a big red cargo ship flying an Italian flag arrived, and some people from aboard this ship took some pictures of the migrants.
According to Daniel, the Italian ships only stopped for a short while, and after speaking to the Maltese, after which they continued with their journey.
Daniel says that the Maltese crew threw them a rope and started towing the boat. “The rope was around 10 metres long so that we could not jump, and after they towed us we thought we were going to Malta.
“But after sunset, when it was dark and we could not see, they changed their direction but we did not notice. After some time, when we realised that we had changed route (one of the persons with me on the boat said he knew our direction by looking at the sky and he told us) – we started shouting and crying and pleading them not to return us to Libya,” he said.
According to Daniel, the situation worsened when, after some time, they saw a fishing boat with a green Libyan flag. “We lost hope and knew that we were going back to Libya. The Maltese gave the rope to the fishing boat, they turned all their powerful lights on so that they could tie the rope properly, and the fishing boat started towing us away from the Maltese. In the end we went back to Libya,” he said.
In his reply to Brigadier Carmel Vassallo’s categorical denial of the event, Daniel stressed that he has no interest to lie about this fact. “I have no problem with Malta. I have never been there, so I have no reason to lie. I am sorry that as an immigrant I do not have the power against the government of Malta, and I cannot show my face or my name, all I can do is tell my story so that maybe things like these will not happen again. As a result of what they did I was arrested and I suffered, I was lucky to end up in Italy in the end but I don’t know where the other people are, if they are still there or if they made it,” Daniel said.
He also denied the number of immigrants having been 264 as alleged by Brigadier Vassallo, and quoted in the original report published by Human Rights Watch. “I read that Malta said they never towed a boat with 264 persons. They never counted us nor checked if we were carrying women and children, and they did not talk to us. They would not know how many people were there,” he said.
Daniel concluded that as a result of his forced deportation, he was arrested by the Libyan security forces and together with other migrants, he was beaten and left in a detention centre until he managed to escape once again and settle in Italy.
