[ad_1]
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday launched a campaign of repression against the German charity Sea Watch, whose ship rescued Wednesday 52 migrants off the coast of Libya.
Salvini, who is also Interior Minister and coalition leader in the right wing League, issued a decree enjoining law enforcement authorities to take all necessary measures to prevent the death penalty. entry or transit of the Sea Watch 3 vessel in Italian waters.
In response on Twitter, Sea Watch said: "Sea Watch will not land survivors in Libya – Tripoli is not a security port.
"It's a crime to forcibly return people rescued to a country at war, where they risk unlawful imprisonment and torture." Italy encourages these atrocities and the European Union is accomplice, it's outrageous ".
On Tuesday, Salvini said the 18-article decree would impose fines of up to 50,000 euros ($ 57,000) for the captain, owner and operator of a ship "coming into Italian territorial waters without authorization ".
Salvini has seen its popularity soar over the past year with a tough line against migrants that included closing ports for ship rescue.
The president of the League, who attributed a reduction in the number of deaths at sea to an agreement with the Libyan coastguard to prevent people from traveling to Europe's coast, repeatedly insisted that the Italian ports were closed to migrants.
Salvini said that people leaving Libya to seek security in Europe should be sent back to the crisis-ridden country – a controversial order under international law and that charity-driven migrant rescue vessels have refused repeatedly to follow.
Since 2014, more than 12,000 people have died while trying to flee Libya to Europe, according to what the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) calls the "sea crossing the most." murderous world ".
The decree is yet to be submitted to the Italian Parliament, where the coalition government holds a comfortable majority.
Source link
