Spain recovers a rescue ship – Captain "Lifeline" before hearing

L & # 39; Italy had refused to allow hundreds of people to board the ship "Lifeline" of the organization Mission Lifeline Dresden. (Image: Domenic Aquilina / EPA)

(dpa) Amid the debate over port bans on humanitarian organizations, the renewed blockade of a refugee rescue vessel in the Mediterranean was avoided. The ship of the Spanish organization Proactiva Open Arms allowed to travel with the survivors to the port of Barcelona. The Spanish government allowed them to bring the 60 refugees, according to the organization.

Italy refused entry to "open arms". Malta has also declared itself ineligible. There on Monday, the German captain of the rescue ship "Lifeline" in the court.

Allegations against the captain

Before the court of Valletta should first be presented the allegations against Claus-Peter Reisch, said the organization's legal adviser, the agency German press Sunday. It is not known whether Reisch himself will comment

Italy and Malta accuse him of ignoring the Rome orders to have wrecked migrants taken by the Libyans. In addition, the lifeboat should not have been properly registered. The Dresdner rejects the allegations and refers to the duty to take people in distress.

Especially, the Italian Minister of the Interior of the right leg, Matteo Salvini, is unleashed against the NGOs, which he considers to be auxiliaries of the traffickers. He had already refused to allow hundreds of people to board the ship "Aquarius" of Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranean and the "Lifeline" of the organization Mission Lifeline Dresden. The "Aquarius" had to move to Spain, the "Lifeline" was allowed to dock in Malta.

Even the "Open Arms" might "forget to arrive in an Italian port," Salvini said. The ship is in Libyan waters, the nearest port is Malta and it flies the Spanish flag. "Stop the human smuggling mafia: the fewer people die, the less they die." Italy wants the Libyan coastguards to intercept migrants and bring them back to civil war

Stop the refugees

But despite all the blockades, they continue to smuggle migrants into the country. To escape from torture and severe ill-treatment in Libya. This is also shown by the latest refugee accident, at the end of last week about 100 people could have died – including three babies.

Photos have shown how the Libyan coastguards carry babies from the boats ashore. According to the Coast Guard, all children were under one year old. The images recall the fate of young Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, who was abandoned in 2015 on a beach in Turkey. "When everyone saw Alan's photo, it was a movement of outrage and solidarity," said spokeswoman for UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami, Twitter. "But the deaths were followed by more deaths." Instead of coordinating the recovery of migrants, EU states have drastically reduced the chances of rescue at sea.

Proactive Open Arms still wants to continue and pick up migrants off the Libyan coast. According to Spanish media, the ship could land in Barcelona on Wednesday. Mayor of the city, Ada Colau, thanked the organization via Twitter and said that Barcelona was looking forward to the ship with open arms. It was good that the rescuers did not indulge in inhuman and cruel European policy.

In Italy, for the first time, a senior politician of the five-star ruling movement spoke for the migrants. "I will not close the ports, and when it comes to immigration, you have to speak with intelligence and heart," said Parliament Speaker Roberto Fico on Saturday during a visit to a police center. welcoming migrants in Pozzallo, Sicily.

The Five Stars are the main partners of the populist government. However, the boss of Lega Salvini currently dictates with xenophobic statements the course in Italy and thus enters opinion polls more and more consent. He also quickly said that Fico did not speak for the government but for himself.