Tunisian man found guilty for 700 Mediterranean deaths

A Tunisian man has been found guilty by a Sicilian court for causing the sinking of a boat in which 700 migrants died in April 2015.

Mohammed Ali Malek, 28, accused of being the boat's captain, now faces 18 years in jail after being convicted of manslaughter and human trafficking.

He had denied being the boat's captain, saying he had paid for passage like everyone else on the small wooden fishing vessel.

Malek's brother had supported his claims, saying that his brother had been forced at gunpoint to captain the ship because of his experience as a fisherman.

Mohammed Ali Malek had denied being captain of the boat (Photo: Reuters)

"My brother was recruited by Libyans to work in a cafe in Libya a few weeks ago, but afterwards he was forced under threat by smugglers to pilot the voyage because he knows a little about the sea and worked with our father fishing," he had said.

A Syrian, 26-year-old Mahmud Bikhit, was on trial with him and was sentenced to five years for abetting illegal immigration. Bikhit allegedly served as Malek's first mate. He had also denied any wrongdoing.

Both men were also ordered to pay €9 million in compensation.

The heavily overcrowded boat sank off the coast of Libya after colliding with a Portuguese merchant vessel, King Jacob, that had come to its rescue.

When Malek, who was 27 at the time, saw the merchant vessel approaching, he reportedly steered closer in an attempt to hide the ship. He however steered too close, colliding with the merchant vessel. Meanwhile, the migrants had shifted on the side of the boat facing the merchant vessel and, following the collision, the rickety boat overturned and sank, taking with it the lives of men, women and children who had been crammed into the hold of the fishing boat and locked inside.

Prosecutors at the court in Catania said Malek’s control of the boat had been "naive, careless and negligent".

Speaking to the BBC, Malek drew a diagram, arguing that the fishing boat had lost balance because of waves created by the King Jacob's propeller.

Mohammed Ali Malek's drawing of how the collision happened (Photo: BBC)

Only 28 people survived the disaster, among them were the two human traffickers. 24 bodies were recovered and brought to Malta, where they were laid to rest in an interfaith ceremony. The funeral was attended by European Commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Most of the victims on the 27m-long boat were from countries including Mali, Gambia, Senegal and Ethiopia.

The capsizing of the trawler sparked public outcry and forced EU leaders to hold emergency meetings to come up with a plan to try to prevent such mass casualties at sea. It also led to the restoration of EU-wide search and rescue missions off the coast of Italy.

However, the numbers of people crossing to Italy in unsafe boats from North African countries has risen this year to 175,244, the UN said. The number of fatalities in the Mediterranean has also risen to 4,742, an increase of almost 1,000 on 2015.