GENEVA - UN experts* today urged Malta to end the unjustified prosecution of three boys known as the "El Hiblu 3" on terrorism charges that could carry life sentences.
Amara Krumak, Abdalla Bari and Kone Tiemoko Abdul Kader were among over 100 migrants rescued in March 2019 by the oil tanker El Hiblu 1 while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe.
Panic ensued after the rescued migrants realised they were being returned to Libya, where they were at risk of serious human rights violations. The three youths, aged 15, 16 and 19 at the time, acted as interpreters and mediators at the request of the ship's crew.
"The boys did not engage in any violence or threats but were arrested upon disembarkation in Malta and charged with extremely serious offences, including terrorism, with some offences carrying life imprisonment," the experts said. "We condemn these unjustified charges. We are also concerned that Maltese law criminalises as terrorism conduct that is not genuinely terrorist under international law."
Despite two of the boys being minors at the time, they were all detained in the high-security division of an adult prison, interrogated without appointed legal guardians, and detained for eight months before being granted bail. There were also procedural irregularities during the investigation.
"Malta does not appear to have respected its international obligations to consider the best interests of the child in all decisions affecting them, to detain children only as a last resort and separate them from adults, to use juvenile not adult justice procedures, and to guarantee the right to a fair trial," the experts said.
They added that migrants and asylum seekers should not be punished and deterred for seeking protection and expressing fear of return to places where their lives and fundamental rights are at risk.
The experts also expressed concern that the European Union's naval operation in the Mediterranean had coordinated with the El Hiblu 1 and the Libyan authorities in an attempt to facilitate the refoulement of migrants to Libya.
"There is broad international agreement that Libya cannot be regarded as a 'place of safety' where refugees and migrants rescued at sea can be disembarked under the international law of the sea. The forcible return of migrants to Libya would violate the core legal obligation of non-refoulement," they said.
"We echo the call of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for the European Union and its Member States to implement a common, human rights-based response to maritime migration from Libya."
