Italian authorities detained [8] another NGO-operated search-and-rescue vessel on July 22—the fourth to have fallen foul of "technical irregularities" since the beginning of the pandemic. The move fits a pattern of authorities using administrative procedures to block the work [9] of search-and-rescue NGOs in the central Mediterranean, according [10] to human rights groups. At the end of June, the Ocean Viking [11], operated by NGO Onboard SOS Mediterranee [12], rescued 180 asylum-seekers and migrants who had departed from Libya. Authorities in Italy and Malta refused to assign the ship a safe harbor for eight days, leading to a severe [13] deterioration in the mental health conditions of those on board, manifesting in suicide attempts and fights. After the rescued people finally disembarked in Sicily, the Ocean Viking observed a 14-day quarantine before it was inspected and impounded.
Meanwhile, an Italian public prosecutor announced this week that the captain of an Italian merchant vessel will face trial [15]—the first [16] of its kind in Italy—for returning 100 intercepted asylum-seekers and migrants to Libya against their will in 2018.
From The New Humanitarian [17], July 24
