Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504229
10 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JULY 2023 ON 23 May, around 500 people on board a rusty fishing vessel that left from Tobruk in Libya called the migrant hotline Alarm Phone in distress. The boat was adrift within the Maltese search and rescue zone at GPS position N 34 55 E 19 45. Water was en- tering the boat, and the people on board were using buckets to take the water out. RCC Malta, which coordinates rescue operations in the Maltese search and rescue zone (SAR), told Alarm Phone that it was aware of the situation and will be taking action. On 24 May, a vessel called the Tareq Bin Zeyad was moving in weird patterns. Location data on the vessels obtained by Malta- Today shows that the AIS signal of the vessel was switched off for four days until the morning of the 24th. A position signal obtained 33 minutes before the last distress signal from the vessel shows the Tareq Bin Zeyad to be around 15 nautical miles from the boat. According to the vessel events of the Tareq Bin Zeyad, it entered Maltese waters at 5:47am but im- mediately left the area. Apart from two AIS signals at 2:03am and 3:47am, the Tareq Bin Zeyad was not signalling any positions. Rescue NGOs tried to search the area of the last distress signal in Maltese SAR, but found noth- ing. It was only two days later, on 26 May, that they found out through a relative of someone on board that the 500 people were brought back to Benghazi in Lib- ya. Another relative told Alarm Phone that his brother spoke of Libyan forces who came to the vessel and forced them to turn back. At the time, the Armed Forces of Malta said that it tried search- ing for the boatm but it was never sighted. It also said that Maltese authorities have no jurisdiction over autonomous actions in in- ternational waters. Documents obtained by Malta- Today showing the ownership of the Tareq Bin Zeyad show that the crew boat is registered in St Kitts & Nevis and was built in Dubai. It was registered on Sep- tember 2020, but it expires in Au- gust this year. The boat is owned by 2020 Vol- ume Boats Maintenance & Re- pairing LLC, a company based in Dubai. However, it is managed by Al Mouj Shipping Co LLC, also based in Dubai. A source familiar with the ves- sel told MaltaToday that it used to be called Charlie 4, and would sail in South East Asia. Now, it appears to be used by a military brigade in Eastern Libya. Brigade led by son of Khalifa Haftar The Tariq Ben Zeyad brigade is led by Commander Saddam Haftar, the son of military lead- er Khalifa Haftar, and forms part of Haftar's Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). It is one of the largest armed groups under the LAAF. However, this brigade is known for its aggressive behaviour and even human rights abuses. Am- nesty International has reported at length on the human rights abuses by the Tariq Ben Zeyad, which include abductions, tor- ture, and unlawful killings. Between 2017 and 2022, the Tareq Bin Zeyad brigade arbi- trarily detained 25 people be- cause of their political views or affiliations. Three of the detain- ees were found dead, four remain forcibly disappeared, and another three continue to be arbitrarily detained. The remaining 15 people were released after either spending as long as five years in prison or af- ter paying extortionate ransoms. These people maintain they were subjected to beatings, floggings, or being suspended in 'contorted postitions'. On social media, Amensty In- ternational found several posts showing members of the brigade loading refugees and migrants in- to trucks to be taken to the Liby- an border with Niger. On 7 July, migrant rescue NGO Sea-Watch published photos of a boat with 250 people onboard and in distress. An audio clip up- loaded online by the NGO shows a brief communication with a nearby merchant ship San Felix. In the clip, the members on board the San Felix told the NGO that it was told by RCC Malta that Maltese authorities will be handling the case, and so released them from the distress case. However, photos captured by the NGO from its aircraft show the 250 people being boarded onto the Tareq Bin Zeyad. It is unclear whether this happened in Maltese SAR. A day later, Sea-Watch con- firmed that the 250 people in distress were brought back to Benghazi. Recently a joint journalistic in- vestigation from Lighthouse Re- ports, Der Spiegel, and El Pais confirmed that it is the Tariq Bin Zeyad brigade carrying out the pullbacks to Benghazi. Moreover, four of those who died in the Greek shipwreck last June were on board the boat that was pulled back to Libya from Maltese SAR on 25 May. Benghazi is becoming an in- creasingly popular point of depar- ture for migrants looking to get to Europe. It is particularly popular among smugglers using the air route to bring Asian and Middle Eastern migrants to Libya. MaltaToday had reported that hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants are being smuggled aboard charter flights into Libya, with criminal groups charging migrants €1,500 each to be trans- ferred from Syria to Libya, using flights operated by Syrian airline Cham Wings. MaltaToday understands that Bangladeshi and Syrian migrants are being favoured by criminal networks in Libya as they pay higher rates to the groups. As EU leaders get to grips with migration, many have turned to The Libyan militia carrying out A boat operated by a Libyan militia led by the son of strongman Khalifa Haftar is being used to return rescued migrants back to Benghazi. NICOLE MEILAK reports on how this boat has been used in Malta's search and rescue zone Migrants being transferred to the Tareq Bin Zeyad boat on 7 July (Photo - Sea-Watch International)