German aid ship captain arrested in Italy
ROME, July 12, 2004 (dpa) — The captain of a ship that rescued 37 shipwrecked African immigrants at sea is being held in custody in Italy on Monday, along with his first officer and the head of the German relief agency that owns the ship Cap Anamur.
Stefan Schmidt, a German national, was arrested after hours of questioning by police in Sicily, shortly after docking the Cap Anamur in the island’s Porto Empedocle.
He faces charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration along with Elias Bierdel, head of the Cap Anamur agency, prosecutors from the nearby town of Agrigento told reporters.
Cap Anamur is an NGO dedicated to helping refugees in distress at sea.
Three weeks ago, its ship rescued the immigrants in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and then headed towards Italy via Malta.
Italian officials refused to allow the ship to dock in Sicily but eventually changed their minds following a message from the captain describing increased tension on the ship and reassurances from Cap Anamur that the refugees had handed written applications for asylum in Germany.
The German government, however, has since ruled out granting asylum to the group of shipwrecked refugees, arguing that it could not grant them asylum as the aid agency vessel did not constitute German territory.
Christopher Hein, head of the Italian Council for Refugees, an non-government organizaton, said the captains arrest meant Italy’s judiciary was comparing the Cap Anamurs humanitarian act to that of criminals transporting immigrants illegally for money.
But Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli says the affair risked setting a devastating precedent” for Italy.
The message is that our country cannot control its own borders,” Castelli was quoted as saying Monday.
After the ships docking, the immigrants were taken to a refugee centre on the island, where they were reported in good condition.
And police there now say the immigrants, most of whom said they were fleeing from civil unrest in Sudan’s Darfur region, may not be Sudanese after all.
According to Italian media reports, the refugees have not been collaborating with police, refusing to tell them about their country of origin.
Police suspect the immigrants may actually come from Ghana or Nigeria.