Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 NEWS Jelka Kretzschmar from Sea Watch, the refugee rescue charity, says the three boys were immediately thrown into a high security wing in Mal- ta's prison, and only moved to regular facilities for juvenile offenders and adults two weeks later. It was only eight months later that the three young men were finally released on bail. "They were the same three young men who acted as trans- lators and mediators, who tried to calm people on board and converse with the crew in order not to be forced back into the hell of Libyan detention camps: Abdalla, Amara and Kader." Today, the three young men have been released for over two and a half years, but they are awaiting a trial that could lead to their imprisonment for life. "They are allowed to work and pay taxes, but they are not al- lowed to go for a swim on Mal- ta's beaches as their bail con- ditions dictate that they must stay 50 metres away from the coastline. If they miss signing in with the police one day, they risk going back to jail," says Kretzschma. From Libyan hellhole to Maltese nightmare All three young people share gruesome stories about their time in Libya, the country to which they did not want to re- turn. Amara Kromah recalls fearing being kidnapped in Libya. "I would work for the whole day, and instead of getting paid after a long day of work, they would point guns at us and chase us away. My life became charac- terised by fear and hopeless- ness in Libya, as lawlessness, kidnapping and rape became normal. Armed Libyan civil- ians would commit gruesome crimes like rape, shooting and even stabbing black African immigrants, like me, without being questioned by anyone." "Once we were in Libya, we were always scared of being kidnapped and enslaved for work. Leaving the house means risking your life if you're a black person," recalls Abdalla Bari, now 22, married and a fa- ther of two daughters. Abdul Kader recalled that as soon as arriving in the first village in Libya he got arrest- ed and locked up in a private prison. "From this prison, they decide how much you have to pay in order to be released. I didn't have any money so my friend and his older brother left me there as they only paid for themselves. Those who didn't pay, were beaten so that they would call their parents to pay." Kader spent about nine months in prisons, working in the fields without being paid before escaping to Tripoli from where he was picked up from a roundabout and taken to near- by village where he found him- self working for free again. "After finishing the work, he refused to pay us and to take us back to where he had picked us up in the morning. He said that from now on we would always work for him. So we worked for him, we were always watched. Some days, he gave us food, some days he didn't." Even in Malta, their life has been marred not just by a court case which has dragged on for the past three years but also by the harsh realities of earning a living. In June 2020, Abdul Kader was injured while work- ing with a construction compa- ny. "I fell off the third floor. Luck- ily, I only broke my leg. I feel lucky and I thank God that I am still alive. For months I was walking on crutches and couldn't work. I am still in pain every day. I've got some long metal plates in my hips and leg and am waiting for another operation for them to be taken out. That scares me, because I'm afraid I will again miss work and lose my job." Criminalising the powerless The only silver lining for the three young men was the solidarity they found. Nils Muižnieks, an Amnesty Inter- national director, met Amara and Kader for the first time in September 2019, while they were imprisoned in Malta's ju- venile detention facility, in Im- taħleb. "They were all teenagers then, thousands of miles from home, struggling to understand their predicament and still coming to terms with more trauma than many of us face in a lifetime: the hardship and violence of Libya, after a gruelling desert cross- ing; a terrifying sea journey in an overcrowded, rickety rubber boat which soon started to de- flate; the shock of discovering that after surviving a shipwreck they were about to be unlawful- ly returned to Libya, the very place they had risked their life to leave; and once finally in Malta, an arrest followed by months of detention." Migration expert and academ- ic Dr Maria Pisani describes the accusations brought against the three young men as an act of cruelty. "The El Hiblu 3, as they came to be known, might as well still be adrift in the Mediterrane- an, or lying in their prison cell, for they remain shackled for a crime that they did not commit. The waiting is devastating, de- structive and frightening". Yet this is not just a personal story of three young men but also another chapter in the "lawfare" (legal warfare) being waged by European authorities keen on pushing them back to Libya. "As they translated for the captain and the other passen- gers, the three teenagers en- tered a broader political context – a context marked by tension, political bluster and abuse of power, violence, human rights violations and deaths, with little end in sight," Pisani says. All this is happening in a con- text where "punishing refugees has become normalised, a col- lateral damage of border poli- tics." Yet the nightmare faced by the three young people can be eas- ily stopped with one simple act by the Attorney General; that of dropping the charges. "Deep down, most of us are able to recognise an act of cru- elty, and we are equally aware of the fear that it generates. The accusations brought against Abdalla, Amara and Kader, and the ongoing court procedures, are harmful and cruel. This in- justice cannot continue to be ignored, justified or dismissed. We call upon the Attorney Gen- eral to drop all charges with im- mediate effect, and to close the case before it goes to trial. It is the just thing to do," Pisani says. Despite their ordeal, Amara, encouraged by the "friendliness and support of the ordinary Maltese people", remains hope- ful. "On days that I have to appear in court, I wake from my bed believing that I am going to be acquitted. I know and believe that truth will always prevail." jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt "I fell off the third floor. Luckily, I only broke my leg... I've got some long metal plates in my hips and leg and am waiting for another operation for them to be taken out. That scares me, because I'm afraid I will again miss work and lose my job" - Kader "My whole life has been defined by my quest to live a better and decent life away from home, and despite all the challenges and traumatising experiences I have had during the course of this journey, I have always remained peaceful and law-abiding. I am neither a terrorist nor do I encourage any act of terrorism in any given circumstance," writes Amara Kromah, one of the three young people facing terrorism charges