Episode 37: Free The El Hiblu 3 - Teenagers accused of terrorism for translating

IN THIS episode we speak with Nadia, a young refugee woman from Lebanon, and Alexandros, a Greek human rights lawyer.

Nadia tells us how she and her husband Dawood were forced to leave Lebanon by boat, how they spent over 10 days at sea, and how, once they were rescued, Dawood was arrested by the Greek authorities and accused of human smuggling. 

Alexandros tells us how he and his colleague Dmitris won the legal case against Dawood, and tells us more about the unjust EU directive that is locking up refugees. 

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---Show Notes---

For more on Dawood's case, read this article by the Human Rights Legal Project humanrightslp.eu/post/hrlp-lawyers-to-defend-dawood-who-has-been-in-custody-for-a-year-and-a-half

Check the Human Rights Legal Project out here: humanrightslp.eu/who-we-are-hrlp

For more on the situation in Lebanon following the 2020 explosion, read this Guardian report: theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/03/port-of-beirut-explosion-aftermath-scars-on-already-broken-lebanon

Check out The Civil Fleet's previous interview with Alexandros about the Samos 2: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-26-the-samos-2-and-the-criminalisation-of-refugees-in-greece

And here's the interview Alexandros helped set up with Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian refugee who was sentenced to 142 years behind bars because he momentarily steered a boat: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-35-sentenced-to-142-years-for-doing-what-any-human-would-do

Want to see what Malta's search-and-rescue zone looks like? See the July-August 2022 issue of ECHOES from the Central Mediterranean: https://issuu.com/civilmrcc/docs/cmrcc_echoes_issue_1_jul_aug_2022

Here's the UK Home Office's tweet of Ibrahima Bah, who was criminalised for steering a dinghy which collapsed in the Channel: twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1761090973520576879

For more on Ibrahima Bah, read this statement by Captain Support UK: captainsupport.net/jury-convicts-ibrahima-bah-statement-from-captain-support-uk/

And this news report by Sky News: news.sky.com/story/ibrahima-bah-asylum-seeker-boat-pilot-locked-up-after-death-of-four-migrants-13078980

For more on the Maersk Etienne, read about it here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Etienne/

And check out episode 18 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Iason Apostolopoulos, who talks about it in that interview: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-18-there-is-no-end-to-this-cruelty

In this episode, we speak with journalist Bashar Deeb from Lighthouse Reports about two investigations he worked on.

The first, called 'Frontex and the Pirate Ship', is a disturbing story of how the European Border and Coastguard Agency helped a notorious Libyan rebel group intercept a refugee boat in the Mediterranean. 

The second, ‘Drowning in Lies’, exposes how Greece tried to cover up its role in the Pylos shipwreck by tampering with witness testimony.

--Get in touch---

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---Show Notes---

Check out Lighthouse Reports here: lighthousereports.com

And follow them on Twitter: @LHreports

Read Frontex and the Pirate Ship here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/frontex-and-the-pirate-ship/

Read Drowning in Lies here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/drowning-in-lies/

For more on Frontex, see episodes 50 and 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of Frontex, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Frontex/

Check out this 2021 report by Sea-Watch called ‘Crimes of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex in the Central Mediterranean Sea’ here: sea-watch.org/frontex_crimes/

For more on the Tariq Ben Zeyad unit, read this Amnesty International report: amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/12/libya-hold-commanders-of-tariq-ben-zeyad-armed-group-accountable-for-catalogue-of-horrors/

For more on the campaign group Refugees in Libya, check out episode 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

In early 2020, The Civil Fleet exposed how the EU planned to continue to support the Libyan Coastguard despite the bloc's concerns the government was violating the human rights of migrants and profiting from their detention: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses/

Read this interview with a Somali refugee held in a bogus ‘refugee camp’ in Libya: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/they-lock-our-legs-together-with-a-chain-an-interview-with-a-slave/

For more on Libya, check out episode 15 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

Check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on the situation at the Lithuania-Belarus border

For more on Malta's floating prisons, read this: maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/102694/illegal_floating_prisons__carla_camilleri

The UK is also holding people on the move on a floating prison, called the Bibby Stockholm. For more on that, see episodes 44 and 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast. 

It was the Maersk Etienne that rescued 27 people in 2020, which Malta refused to allow to come ashore. Listen to episode 18 and/or, read about it here: bit.ly/3HyJMHU

For more on Alarm Phone, listen to episodes 48, 5, and 3 of The Civil Fleet Podcast. Read about them here, too: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Alarm-Phone/ 

Read about the Crotone shipwreck here: msf.org/italy-over-60-people-killed-crotone-shipwreck 

Read about the Pylos shipwreck, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/shipwreck-survivors-say-greek-coasts-towed-their-boat-before-it-sank/ 

Ben was trying to paraphrase this quote by Robert Fisk at the end of the episode: Journalists rarely "move mountains or bring down regimes; instead, we just chip, chip, chip away at the rock face, hoping that someone notices — so that no one can say ‘we didn’t know’."

In this episode, we speak with Sergio from No Name Kitchen.

He tells how the group supports people on the move along the Balkan route, and the types of violence they experience along the European Union's edges.

Sergio also talks to us about No Name Kitchen's Bloody Borders report, and of the horrific levels of abuse suffered at European borders.

--Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

For more No Name Kitchen, visit: nonamekitchen.org

Follow them on Twitter here: twitter.com/NoNameKitchen1

Read NNK's Bloody Borders Report here: tinyurl.com/27ss86b8 

If you'd like to volunteer with NNK, see here: nonamekitchen.org/volunteer/

Check out Sergio's awesome NNK jumper here: nonamekitchen.org/shop/

Check out episodes 6 (Irina) and 41 (with Barbara) of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on NNK. Episode 6 is here tinyurl.com/mrx2twad and episode 41 is here: tinyurl.com/yn8z2duk 

Want to know where Ceuta is? See this Google Map: tinyurl.com/yftbf79v 

Never heard of Šid? Here it is in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/3j53k8r3

According to the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 974 people died in the central Mediterranean in 2023, and at least 1,372 are missing. 17,025 people were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya.

Watch the Emergency NGO video Ben mentions in the episode here: tinyurl.com/2d78v54z 
 

Sergio mentions the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN). For more on them, check out episode 8 of The Civil Fleet Podcast here: tinyurl.com/2p8v39s4. And see their website here: borderviolence.eu

Sergio mentions Lighthouse Reports. For more on them, see here: https://www.lighthousereports.com. And, check out episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast: tinyurl.com/3bez9u9c 

We very briefly mention the situation for people on the move at the Belarus border. For more on that, check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast: tinyurl.com/2mkrwepe 

Ben makes yet another reference to the works of Noam Chomsky in this episode when he talks about ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy victims.’ For more on that, read about it here: chomsky.info/consent01, or listen to it here: tinyurl.com/muttcnmw.

In this episode we speak with Josephine from Abolish Frontex, a decentralised network of activist groups focused on ending the EU's deadly border regime.

Josephine is going to tell us about Frontex, which is the European Border and Coastguard Agency, it's many scandals, it's operations within and outside Europe, and why it should be abolished.

We also talk about the International Day of Action the network is calling for on December 18th, demanding Frontex ends its operations in Africa. 

--Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

For more on Abolish Frontex visit: abolishfrontex.org

For more of the network's demands, see here: abolishfrontex.org/how

For more on the International Day of Action, see here: abolishfrontex.org/blog/2023/10/30/frontex-out-of-africa-join-our-international-action-day-on-18-12-2023/ 

For more on Frontex's involvement in pushbacks in Greece, read this:
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-border-force-frontex-implicated-in-migrant-abuse/a-49892097

See this article for more on Frontex's involvement in the abuse of people on the move in the Balkans: balkaninsight.com/2020/02/06/frontexs-history-of-handling-abuse-evidence-dogs-balkan-expansion/

Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of Frontex, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Frontex/

Ben mentions an arms fair that took place in London this summer. For more on that, see: stopthearmsfair.org.uk

For more on the Transnational Institue, go here: tni.org/en

Ben, briefly mentions Frag Den Staat (Ask the State). See here for more on them: fragdenstaat.de

And, check out episode 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Frag Den Staat's Luisa Izuzquiza – in which we focus on Frontex

Want to know more about the Balkan route that Ben and Josephine briefly mention? Then check out episodes 41 (with No Nae Kitchen) and episode 8 (Border Violence Monitoring Network - BVMN)

In this episode, we speak with Paul O'Connor the senior national officer at the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) union - one of the largest unions in the UK, representing workers across all government departments and in the private sector. 

Paul tells us about the safe passage for refugees policy the union's members wrote with Care4Calais, and why it is a genuinely humanitarian way to stop the small boat crossings of the Channel. 

We also touch on working class solidarity, anti-fascism and, the Bibby Stockholm, the hostile environment, and how a string of governments have created the asylum-seeker backlog. 

--Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

For more on the PCS union, see: pcs.org.uk

For more on PCS and Care4Calais' Safe Passage Policy, read about it here: https://care4calais.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Safe-Passage-Policy-Paper.pdf

If you'd like to email your MP about PCS's safe passage policy, see here: action.pcs.org.uk/page/134188/action/1 

Ben and Paul speak about the Tories throughout this episode. The Tories is the nickname of the ruling Conservative Party.

For more on The World Transformed, the festival Ben mentions in the episode, see here: theworldtransformed.org

See here for more on the UK Border Force training to push refugees back across the Channel already, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/uk-border-force-may-have-begun-attempts-to-push-refugees-back-across-the-channel-already-evidence-suggests/

For more on Channel Rescue and Care4Calais, see episodes 11 and 17 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

Ben and Paul speak about Priti Patel a few times in this episode. She was the UK's Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. She was replaced by Suella Braverman. The Home Secretary is a similar governmental role to interior minister in many European countries. 

For more on the UK's treatment of refugees, the Rwanda Scheme, the Hostile Environment, the Illegal Immigration Act and the Bibby Stockholm see episodes 21, 25, 32, 38, 39, 40, 42 and 44.

Paul mention Detention Action. For more on them, see: detentionaction.org.uk

Ben and Paul speak about the FBU, which is the Fire Brigades Union. For more on the union's solidarity work with refugees, see here: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2023/03/05/trade-unions-unite-solidarity-refugees

Paul mentions the Scottish Rolls-Royce workers who refused to work on fighter jets bound for Chile in the 1970s, when the country was ruled by the western-back dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. For more on that, check out the documentary film Nae Pasaran, here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/naepasaran 

For more on the vast amounts of money the UK government has spent in France trying to stop people from crossing the Channel, see this Al Jazeera report from March 2023: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/10/uk-to-fund-france-detention-centre-as-leaders-agree-migration-deal

Jihed, a Tunisian activist with Alarm Phone and Louise Michelle, talks to us about the mistreatment of refugees / migrants / people on the move in Tunisia in this episode. 

He tells us how a speech by Tunisia's President Kais Said earlier this year — in which he spouted off racist, far-right conspiracy theories — affected refugees in Tunisia. 

We hear about border violence between Tunisia and Libya, and how Europe's border operates inside the country. 

Jihed was also an active participant in the Tunisian revolution. He tells us about that and its effects on refugees today. We also hear how Kais Said's government oppresses Tunisian citizens. 

--Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

You can follow Jihed on Twitter here: @brirmijihed

For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on Twitter on @alarm_phone.
 

For more on Louise Michel, visit: mvlouisemichel.org. Follow Louise Michel on Twitter: @MVLouiseMichel

For more on human rights issues in Tunisia, read Amnesty International's 2022 report, here: amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/tunisia/report-tunisia/
 

For more on the EU's anti-migrant deals with Tunisia, read this Human Rights Watch article: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/28/eu-commission-should-stop-ignoring-tunisias-abuses-against-migrants 

Ben mentions people across Europe being afraid to help refugees for fear of being accused of people smuggling. Check out The Civil Fleet Podcast's episodes 47, 41, 36, 35, 33, 28, 24, 17, 16, 9, 8 and 2 for more on this. 

Ben also mentions how refugees in Europe are also being kept in cars for hours in hot weather as a form of torture before they're pushed back across borders. See episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Lighthouse Reports for more on this. 

Jihed mentioned Maldusa, an Italian cultural association that supports migrant solidarity efforts across the country. Check out episode 46 of The Civil Fleet Podcast to hear from Maldusa activist Jasmine.  

In this episode, we speak with Serena from Mediterranea: Saving Humans, an Italian refugee rescue organisation. 

Serena tells us how the Italian authorities have prevented the organisation's ship, the Mare Jonio, from going back to sea to save lives for over a year. 

She also tells how the authorities recently ordered the Mare Jonio to remove all of its rescue equipment or face arrest. 

--Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

Visit Mediterranea: Saving Human's website here: mediterranearescue.org/en

Follow Mediterranea: Saving Humans on Twitter: @RescueMed

For more on Mediterranea: Saving Humans, and the ongoing pretrial case against it, check out Episode 18 with Iason Apostolopoulos

Read The Civil Fleet's stories about Mediterranea: Saving Humans, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/mediterranea/

Ben and Serena mention Matteo Salvini. He is Italy's transport minister, former interior minister, and the leader of one of the country's far-right parties. 

Mare Nostrum was an Italian-state-run refugee rescue mission in the central Mediterranean. Read this Guardian newspaper report from 2014 on its end: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/31/italy-sea-mission-thousands-risk

Article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requires all ships to "render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost to proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress..." Read that here: https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf 

Ben mentions UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman a few times in this episode. Earlier this week, she outlined her ambition to overhaul international refugee conventions during a speech in the United States. 

Read about that here in the Morning Star newspaper: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/shameful-cruel-and-dangerous

And read in the Guardian newspaper about how even members of her own right-wing party think she has gone too far: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/28/tory-mps-criticise-suella-braverman-alarmist-speech-on-migration 

Ben and Serena breifly touch on the EU's deals with Tunisia. Read this article by Human Rights Watch calling on the EU Commission to stop ignoring Tunisia's abuses of migrants: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/28/eu-commission-should-stop-ignoring-tunisias-abuses-against-migrants

Maersk Etienne, check out episode 18. And/or, read about it here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/?s=Etienne 

For more on the Iuventa, check out Episodes 2, 24 and 36.

For more on Lampedusa, see Episode 46 with Maldusa's Jasmine

In this episode, we speak with Jasmine from the Italian cultural association Maldusa, an organisation that supports migrant solidarity efforts, and documents border violence.

Jasmine tells us about September 12, when more than 5,000 people arrived on Lampedusa, overwhelming the Mediterranean island's under resourced and completely inadequate migrant reception facilities and services. 

She also tells us how the Italian state has not only completely failed the migrants but the locals too, and how many of them mobilised in solidarity with the new arrivals. 

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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---Show Notes---

For more on Maldusa, visit: maldusa.org/en

Follow them on Twitter: @Maldusa_Project

Here is a joint statement signed by Maldusa and many other organisations on Lampedusa and Europe's reception crisis: https://www.maldusa.org/l/arrivals-in-lampedusa-solidarity-and-resistance-in-the-face-of-europes-reception-crisis/

Jasmine mentions the Italian refugee rescue organisation Mediterranea: Saving Humans. For more on them, listen to episode 18, and stay tuned for episode 47!

Find out more about Mediterranea: Saving Humans, here: mediterranearescue.org/en 

Don't know where Lampedusa is? Then check out this google map, here.

Jasmine talks about Italian ships saving people lives at sea in 2015. This was naval mission was called Mare Nostrum. Read this Guardian report from 2014 on the end of Mare Nostrum: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/31/italy-sea-mission-thousands-risk

Georgia Meloni is the far-right Prime Minister of Italy. Matteo Piantedosi is Interior Minister, and Ursula von der Leyen is president of the European Commission. 

Want to know more about the Dublin Agreement? Then check out this explainer video by The Guardian newspaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGuardian 

The book Ben forgets the name of is called No Wall They Can Build, published by the US-based anarchist collective CrimethInc. You can listen to the audiobook here: https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/no-wall-they-can-build

In this episode we speak with Jutta, the head of deployment on the MareGo, a relatively new refugee rescue organisation operating in the central Mediterranean. 

Jutta tells us how the MareGo's crew saved hundreds of lives in two operations in July – one of which was carried out at night with no help from the authorities. 

She also tells us about the incompetence of the Italian coastguards.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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 ---Show Notes---

 
For more on the MareGo, visit: mare-go.de

Follow MareGo on Twiiter: @marego_vessel

To donate to the MareGo, see here: mare-go.de/spenden

Read about the MareGo's nighttime rescue on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/47RrkHO

In this episode we speak with Tigs Louis-Puttick, the founder of Reclaim the Sea, a UK-based organisation helping refugee women reclaim the seaside as a place of joy.

Tigs tells us about teaching refugees to swim and surf, about the UK government placing asylum seekers on a floating barge – the Bibby Stockholm – and the company which owns the barge's links to the trans-atlantic slave trade.

She also tells us how she was arrested in July 2023 during a protest outside the UK Home Office against the Illegal Migration Bill.  

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

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 ---Show Notes---

Follow Reclaim the Sea on Twitter: @Reclaim_The_Sea

You can read Reclaim the Sea's report on the financial and moral cost of the Bibby Stockholm here: reclaimthesea.org.uk/atwhatcost 

Read Reclaim the Sea's open letter to UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman here: bit.ly/3DTusoT 

Two days before this podcast was released, the people who were being held on the Bibby Stockholm were taken off the prison barge because legionella was found in its water supply. Read about that here: bit.ly/45r3wss 

For more on the Bibby Stockholm's links to the transatlantic slave trade, see this article by Corporate Watch: bit.ly/3KDwQnI 

For more on Corporate Watch, check out episode 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

This short article on the Liverpool Museum's website also looks at Bibby Marine's links to the slave trade: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/bibby-line-shipowners

For more on Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye, see episodes 1, 7, 10, 22, 23 and 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.

Check out this trailer for The Swimmers, a film Ben mentions in the podcast: bit.ly/4578xqd 

For more on the UK's Police Crime and Sentencing Act, see this explanation by the human rights organisation Liberty: bit.ly/3KzJgwL 

For more on the UK's Illegal Migration Bill, see episodes 38, 39 and 42 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.