Open Arms

Of Adolfo Spezzaferro
For the first time, an Italian ship, after having rescued the immigrantsin mare, brought them back in Libya. It's about the Ace Twenty-Eight, a support vessel for an oil platform, That, in application of what has been established by the Italian government, coordinated with the Tripoli Coast Guard which is competent in those waters for the management of SAR search and rescue operations.
The boat, reports The Press, “it seems he followed the indications from the Coast Guard operations center which ordered the commander of Asso via radio from Rome 28 to coordinate with the Tripoli Coast Guard. Essentially the order was to bring those migrants back to Libya.".
“We have learned that one of the dinghies reported today by the Italian Coast Guard with 108 people on board in the Mediterranean were rescued by the ship Asso Ventotto, flying the Italian flag, which is heading towards Tripoli. We do not yet know whether this operation takes place on the recommendation of the Italian Coast Guard, but if that were the case it would be a very serious precedent, a truly collective rejection for which Italy and the ship's commander will answer before a court“, he said Nicola Fratoianni of Free and Equal, aboard the Open Arms. “International law – he adds – provides that people rescued at sea must be taken to a safe port and those in Libya, despite the mystification of reality by the Italian government, cannot be considered as such". Read More