Everyday, migrants risk their lives through the Mediterranean Sea, trying to reach the European coasts. In June we wrote about the rescue vessel Aquarius, the boat of Franco-German founded organisation SOS Méditerranée whose goal is to aid immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea. We mentioned the boat in this News Digest from last month, and you can read the news (in French) : Les migrants de l’Aquarius persona non grata en Italie.
This time, The Guardian reports the story about fishermen who have saved hundreds of migrants and refugees over the years who risked drowning in the Mediterranean:
The men were arrested at sea at the weekend after their trawler released a small vessel it had been towing with 14 migrants onboard, 24 miles from the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. […] According to their lawyers, the Tunisians maintain that they saw a migrant vessel in distress and a common decision was made to tow it to safety in Italian waters. They claim they called the Italian coastguard so it could intervene and take them to shore. Prosecutors have accused the men of illegally escorting the boat into Italian waters and say they have no evidence of an SOS sent by either the migrant boat or by the fishermen’s vessel […] Among those arrested were 45-year-old Chamseddine Ben Alì Bourassine, who is known in his native city, Zarzis, which lies close to the Libyan border, for saving migrants and bringing human remains caught in his nets back to shore to give the often anonymous dead a dignified burial.
Giulia Bertoluzzi, an Italian filmmaker and journalist who directed the documentary Strange Fish about Bourassine, said the men were well known in their home town. “In Zarzis, Bourassine and his crew are known as anonymous heroes”, Bertoluzzi told the Guardian. “Some time ago a petition was circulated to nominate him for the Nobel peace prize. He saved thousands of lives since.”
If they’re considered as heroes to many, the six Tunisians, who are now being held in prison in Sicily pending their trial, could face up to 15 years in prison…
