Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/762759
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2016 News 8 A Tunisian man has been found guilty by a Sicilian court for caus- ing the sinking of a boat in which 700 migrants died in April 2015. Mohammed Ali Malek, 28, ac- cused 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 his 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 ex- perience as a fisherman. "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 smug- glers 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 af- ter colliding with a Portuguese merchant vessel, the King Jacob, which had come to its rescue. When Malek, who was 27 at the time, saw the merchant vessel ap- proaching, 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 to the side of the boat facing the merchant vessel and, following the collision, the rickety boat capsized 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 Cata- nia 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 be- cause of turbulence created by the King Jacob's propeller. Only 28 people survived the dis- aster, 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 Com- missioner 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 a public outcry and forced EU leaders to hold emer- gency 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. Prisoners' families facing 'life sentences' of their own A recent report on what families of prison inmates go through while their loved ones are in prison – and afterwards – reveals huge financial debts as well as a widespread reluctance to seek help, for fear of being ostracised by their community PAUL COCKS PREJUDICE and narrow-minded- ness remained the biggest obstacles in the road to rehabilitation for pris- oners – but also for their families on the outside, according to the chair- person of the Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl foundation. The foundation's aims are to help prisoners, former prisoners, and their families. Chairperson George Busuttil told MaltaToday that once released from prison, many former inmates still found it very difficult to find gainful employment and to gain uncondi- tional acceptance from loved ones, family members, friends and society at large. He said that the stigma of having been in prison pursued former in- mates even after having served their sentence, while their families very often have to face the same discrim- ination and ridicule while their loves ones serve their prison sentences and afterwards. Busuttil said that many families of persons serving a sentence at Corra- dino Correctional Facilities refused to ask for help because they feared being ridiculed or ostracised by their community. "There are many women who will refuse to ask their friends or neigh- bours for help, with even the small- est problems, for fear of having them learn that their son, husband or rela- tive is in prison," he said. Over the weekend, Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl published a report it commissioned – together with Prisms, which works to empower young people with the skills and tools for personal and social growth – on the impact of incarceration on an inmate's family. The report, 'Locked Out: The Families of the Incarcerated', ex- plored what relatives of inmates went through while their loved ones served their sentences, as well as ex- amining the perspective of prison- ers themselves, volunteers working with prisoners, and prison wardens. Family members of 20 of the in- mates – spouses, children, parents or siblings – were interviewed, providing the most poignant and relevant insights into the hardships faced by the families of inmates. One woman spoke about her fa- ther, who has been in prison for the last 16 years, since she herself was only 16 years old. "You try to help him, help your mother … I did a lot in 16 years, fighting by myself, and not because I never needed outside help, but be- cause I never wanted to ask for help," she told researchers. "You need to be wary of a lot of people, whom you talk to, because then you need to grow up quickly and, very often, these events teach you stuff." The report identifies the dire fi- nancial situation of the many fami- lies of prisoners as being the most urgent and pressing concern for many of them. A pensioner described the difficul- ties he faced in trying to support his son in prison financially, as well as himself, on his meagre pension. "I do not expect them to open the prison doors and let everybody out, because we know that people need to pay for their mistakes," he said. "But when they're given a sentence, they also get a very big fine … and we pay the fine for him." Busuttil said that – besides the fines imposed by the courts – many prisoners also found themselves in debt of thousands of euros for legal fees, including court administration fees and, even more so, lawyers' fees. He said this financial burden was then passed on to the families of the prisoners, adding to their other concerns, including the quality of information passed on to them by the authorities, the pressure on re- lationships, victimisation and – if children are involved – negotiating a parental relationship with a parent behind bars. Busuttil explained that the foun- dation tried to facilitate and address these concerns as much as possible but stressed that much still needed to be done to ensure that families and relatives of prisoners did not end up themselves 'sentenced for life' because of the heavy socio-eco- nomic hurdles thrown at them. As part of its Christmas activities this year, the foundation organised a Christmas Market in front of the Corradino Correctional Facility, which was open to the public until yesterday. The market included a number of stalls selling a variety of products, including plants, food and drinks, sweets, toys and hand-crafted sou- venirs of Malta that are painted and finished by prisoners, who get paid full rates by the company that pro- duces and distributes them. Busuttil said he hoped the report helped to direct further debate on how to the assist families of in- mates as they tried to come to terms with their relative's incarceration, financial woes and society's wide- spread cynicism and discrimination against current and former inmates and their families. Tunisian man found guilty for 700 Mediterranean deaths A Tunisian man has been found guilty for his part in the sinking of a boat in April 2015, causing the death of 700 migrants Geroge Busuttil Mohammed Ali Malek, the smuggler photographed on board the Italian frigate that rescued the surviving migrants. PHOTO Ray Attard Malek had to illustrate his testimony on the way the migrants' boat had capsized