Amnesty International: El Hiblu 3 indictment ‘the worst possible decision’

Amnesty International has slammed the indictment of three young men on terrorism charges, saying that Malta’s Attorney General made “the worst possible decision” in issuing the formal charges.

In a press statement on Thursday, the international human rights group said it is “a travesty of justice” that the three men will face trial and possible life imprisonment for acting as mediators between the crew and a group of migrants that were on board an oil tanker that rescued them at sea.

“The Attorney General has taken more than four-and-a-half years to make the worst possible decision,” said Elisa De Pieri, the group’s regional researcher.

“The indictment fails to recognize that they were part of a group of more than 100 asylum-seekers faced with an illegal pushback to Libya which would have put their lives at risk. Yet, they are the ones who might now need to defend themselves against charges ranging from ‘acts of terrorism’ to ‘violence’.”

De Pieri added that the compilation of evidence that led to the indictment has been marred by serious procedural irregularities, such as the detention of the three men in adult facilities when they were still minors, their prosecution in adult courts, and the failure to call key witnesses to testify.

“The case against the El Hiblu 3 should never have been brought, but there is still time for the Maltese authorities to drop the charges and to spare these young men further injustice.” 

The El Hiblu 3

Koni Tiemoko Abdoul Khader, Amara Kromah and Abdalla Bari were 15, 16, and 19 years old when they were charged with hijacking the El Hiblu 1, the oil tanker that had rescued them and 108 other people fleeing Libya from the sea. 

Prosecutors claim the defendants had coerced the captain into not returning them to Libya, where they feared persecution and torture.

It emerged in court that the trio, who were the only English speakers among the rescued group, had been acting as interpreters between the ship’s captain and the asylum seekers. 

But although the overwhelming majority of witnesses in the lengthy compilation of evidence told the court that no violence or threats were made, prosecutors gave more weight to the testimony of the vessel’s captain who had radioed the Maltese authorities to inform them that his vessel had been hijacked by pirates.