The Civil Fleet Podcast Ben Cowles

In April, I went to Bihac, a small town in Bosnia near the border with Croatia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there. 
 
In this episode, NNK's volunteers in Bihac will tell us how they provide first aid, food and clothing to the People on the Move there, and how they document border violence. 
 
We'll also talk with a few of the people trapped in Bosnia, who'll tell us about their journeys to the Balkan country, and the abuses they have faced from border guards at the edge of Fortress Europe.

---Get in touch---
 
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---Show Notes---
 
For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org
 
Follow NNK on Twitter via @NoNameKitchen1
 
Follow them on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen 


 
And listen to episodes 58 Part 2, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
 
Want to know where Bihac is exactly? Check out this map: tinyurl.com/34txjd3d 
 
Joe mentions the IWGB union. For more on them, check them out here: iwgb.org.uk
 
Joe also mentions Sea-Watch, one of the bigger refugee rescue groups operating in the Mediterranean. For more on them, see: sea-watch.org
 
And check out episodes 54, 43, 22, 7, and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch, too. 
 
You can read Joe's article on the Chinese person he meet in Bosnia, here: nonamekitchen.org/a-new-friend-in-the-field-people-from-china-in-the-balkans-seeking-for-a-better-life/ 
 

In this episode we speak with Agustina Oliveri, campaigns manager at the UK-based human rights organisation, Free from Torture.
 
Agustina talks to us about Freedom from Tortures' brilliant campaigns against the British government's plans to exile asylum-seekers to Rwanda by targeting the airlines that are willing to do the government's dirty work.
 
---Get in touch---
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
 
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
 
Instagram: thecivilfleet
 
info@civilfleet.com
 
civilfleet.com
 
Support:
 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
 
---Show Notes---
 
For more on Freedom from Torture, see: freedomfromtorture.org
 
Check them out on Twitter, here: @FreefromTorture
 
Or On Instagram, here: instagram.com/freedomfromtorture
 
Join Freedom from Torture's campaign calling on Jet2 and AirTanker to stand on the right side of history: https://secure.freedomfromtorture.org/page/148549/action/1?ea_tracking_id=web
 
Check out this video of Agustina on the phone with Jet2 about the Rwanda scheme: https://twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1785646030723194902/video/1
 
Check out this video of Freedom from Torture presenting Privilege Style with the Worst Airline of the Year Award in 2022: https://twitter.com/fl360aero/status/1581635733554548741/video/1
 
Watch Freedom from Torture's video of Joan, a Holocaust survivor, confronting Suella Braverman on her hateful language here: twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1614172335921303554
 
Here's a photo of Freedom from Torture crashing the Real Madrid vs Barcelona FC match in 2022 with a message about the Rwanda Scheme. https://twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1582026657854259203
 
Read The Civil Fleet's exclusive story on the 40 people who died in Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in 2023:  https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/at-least-40-people-died-in-home-office-asylum-seeker-accommodation-in-2023/
 
Read The Civil Fleet's stories on the UK's Rwanda scheme: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Rwanda/
 
Read the UN statement condemning the UK's Rwanda scheme: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/uk-rwanda-asylum-law-un-leaders-warn-harmful-consequences
 
For more on Samos Volunteers, see here: samosvolunteers.org
 
For more on the Bibby Stockholm, check out Episode 44 with Reclaim the Sea
 
For more on the UK holding asylum-seekers on former military bases, check out Episode 32 with journalist Bethany Rielly
 
Check out Episode 42, with journalist Nicola Kelly, on asylum seekers being abused and intimidated by staff at Home Office hotels.
 
Ben mentioned the Australian policy of exiling asylum seekers to an island nation, but couldn't remember which. It was Nauru. Read this Amnesty International investigation exposing the abuse of refugees there: amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/australia-investigation-discovers-appalling-abuse-refugees-nauru
 
Read about the direct action in the courts and in the streets which stopped the first deportation flight to Rwanda: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/06/15/britains-first-rwanda-deportation-flight-grounded-due-to-action-in-the-courts-and-on-the-streets/
 
Read this 2023 Human Rights Watch report on the UK Supreme Court finding the UK-Rwanda scheme unlawful: hrw.org/news/2023/11/15/uk-supreme-court-finds-uk-rwanda-asylum-scheme-unlawful
 
Here's a video of British cops rounding up people set to be deported to Rwanda: 
twitter.com/BennnyH/status/1786305873196839313
 
Here's the Home Office's video of cops rounding up people set to be exiled to Rwanda:  twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1785635671316537510
 
Read this story in The National on the government of Belize denying it is negotiating with the UK over its inhumane deportation policy: thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/03/belize-denies-negotiating-with-uk-over-inhumane-deportation-policy/
 
Here's a video of peop

In this episode we speak with Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah from the Free Homayoun campaign. 
 
Homayoun Sabetara, a widower and father of two, fled Iran to reunite with his daughters in Germany in 2021. Mahtab is one of his daughters. 
 
Along the way, Homayoun was forced to drive a car carrying several others across the Greece-Turkey border. He was arrested in Greece, charged with human smuggling, and sentenced to 18 years behind bars at a trial conducted without interpreters. 
 
Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah tell us more about Homayoun's case, his upcoming appeal on April 22, and how Europe's systematic criminalisation of people on the move.
 
---Get in touch---
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
 
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
 
Instagram: thecivilfleet
 
info@civilfleet.com
 
civilfleet.com
 
Support:
 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
 

---Show Notes---
 
For more details on the Free Homayoun campaign, visit: freehomayoun.org/en 
 
Follow the Homayoun campaign on social media:
Instagram @freehomayoun
Twitter: @freehomayoun 
Mastodon: @freehomayoun 
 
Anne and Hannah mention the Seebrucke movement. For more on that, see: seebruecke.org/en  
 
Borderline Europe is also mentioned in this episode. For more on that organisation, see here: borderline-europe.de/?l=en
 
Ben makes frequent reference to the Iuventa crew in this episode. If you don't know who they are and/or want to know more about them, see epiosde 54 and read here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Iuventa/ 
 
For more on the Samos 2, see episode 26. Incidentally, Dimitris Choulis who is interviewed in that episode, is also Homayoun Sabetara's lawyer. 
 
For more on the criminalisation of people on the move, see episodes 53, 48, 35, 29, 28, 26 and more. 
 
Ben mentions Sean Binder & Sara Mandini, Check out episode 16 for more on them. 

In this episode, we speak with Camilla from the refugee rescue organisation SOS Humanity.
 
She tells us about the time the so-called Libyan Coastguard shot at them, disrupting a rescue operation in the central Mediterranean, and causing the death of at least one person in early March 2024.  
 
She also tells us how, after that ordeal, the Italian authorities then ordered the Humanity 1 rescue ship to sail for a port, thousands of miles away. 
 
And how, when they finally reached land, the authorities tried to detain the ship because they apparently disobeyed the Libyan Coastguards. 
 
--Get in touch---
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
 
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
 
Instagram: thecivilfleet
 
info@civilfleet.com
 
civilfleet.com
 
Support:
 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---
 
For more on SOS Humanity, check out their website, here: sos-humanity.org/en/sos-humanity
 
You can donate to them here: sos-humanity.org/en/donate-now
 
Follow SOS Humanity on Twitter: @soshumanity_en


 
You can watch video footage of the Libyan Coastguard's interference of the Humanity 1 rescue, here: youtube.com/watch?v=ARLiTPf7kzc&t=7s&ab_channel=TheCivilFleet 
 
Check out episode 31 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on the Humanity 1 rescue ship
 
Also, read more about SOS Humanity on The Civil Fleet news blog, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/SOS-Humanity
 
Ben mentions Mediterranea: Saving Humans and their rescue ship, the Mare Jonio. For more on them, check out episodes 18 and 47 of The Civil Fleet Podcast 
 
Ben mentions a trip to Trapani and the Iuventa rescuers. Check out the previous episode of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on that, and check out episodes 2, 24 and 36
 
Camilla mentions fellow refugee rescue organisation SOS Mediterranee. For more on them, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/SOS-Mediterranee/  
 
Fore more on the Libyan Coastguards, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Libyan-coastguard
 
And read this exclusive story on the EU continuing its support of the Libyan Coastguard despite its fears of human rights abuses: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses/ 
 
And this 2020 investigation on how the EU’s supposed training of the Libyan coastguard has only made things worse: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/sending-refugees-back-to-hell-with-eu-support/ 
 
Camilla mentions Alarm Phone. Want to know more about them? Check out episodes 48, 5 and 3.
 
Read about Italy's top court declaring Libya not to be a safe port: reuters.com/world/africa/returning-sea-migrants-libya-is-illegal-italys-top-court-says-2024-02-18/
 
Read about the Libyan Coastguards harassing MSF's rescue ship Geo Barents here: https://searchandrescue.msf.org/testimonies/eu-sponsored-shameful-abuses-in-the-central-mediterranean-must-end.html
 
And watch this video of another incident: https://twitter.com/MSF_Sea/status/1768986324139217156
 
Ben mentions the Pirate History Podcast. Check that out here: piratehistorypodcast.com
 
You can read SOS Humanity, Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye's joint statement on the detention of their ships in March 2024, here: sos-humanity.org/en/press/italy-escalates-the-obstruction-of-civil-search-and-rescue/ 

Activists aboard the Iuventa rescue ship saved the lives of over 14,000 people in the central Mediterranean between 2016 and 2017. 
 
Based on dodgy allegations from a security guard with links to the far right, the Italian secret services began spying on the Iuventa crew in September 2016.
 
The Italian authorities seized the Iuventa in August 2017, and initially warned 10 members of the crew that they were under investigation for human smuggling. 
 
But in March 2021, only four of them were charged with “aiding and abetting illegal immigration to Italy.”
 
The four are Kathrin Schmidt, Dariush Beigui, Sascha Girke and Uli Tröder.
 
The preliminary hearing began in May 2022, and has been marred by the prosecution’s many procedural errors and a lack of proper translation for the German defendants.
 
At the end of February 2024, Ben Cowles went to Trapani, on the Italian island of Sicily, to cover what was hoped to be the end of the pretrial. 
 
In this episode we interview Dariush and Sascha, two of the Iuventa four, on the day the prosecution gave up. 
 
We speak with Elisa De Pieri from Amnesty International, Allison West from ECCHR, former Iuventa crewmate and Die Linke Party candidate Lea Reisner, and Mediterranea: Saving Humans' head of operations Beppe Caccia.
 
We also hear from the Iuventa's lawyers Nicola Canestrini and Francesca Cancellaro about the absurdity of the charges brought against the activists. 
 
--Get in touch---
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
 
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
 
Instagram: thecivilfleet
 
info@civilfleet.com
 
civilfleet.com
 
Support:
 
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---Show Notes---
 
Check out The Civil Fleet's previous episodes with Iuventa crew members:
• Episode 2 with Sascha Girke
• Episode 24 with Kathrin Schmidt
• Episode 36 with one of their lawyers Francesca Cancellaro

Read all about the Iuventa on The Civil Fleet blog, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Iuventa
 
Read about Italy's top court declaring Libya not to be a safe port: reuters.com/world/africa/returning-sea-migrants-libya-is-illegal-italys-top-court-says-2024-02-18/
 
You can read the full European Ombudsman's findings on Frontex's operations, here: ombudsman.europa.eu/en/case/en/63451
 
Or you can read a news story about it, here: euractiv.com/section/politics/news/eu-ombudsman-slams-frontexs-dependence-on-eu-countries-for-sea-operations/ 
 
For more on the ECCHR, listen to episode 15 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Silvia Rojas-Castro, a legal advisor at the ECCHR, and Elise Flecher, a senior programmes officer at Lawyers for Justice in Libya
 
Allison mentions UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawler. You can read about her intervention in the Iuventa case, here: https://iuventa-crew.org/en/2023/05/03/un-special-rapporteurs-call-on-italian-prosecution-to-dismiss-iuventa-case/ 
 
And on The Civil Fleet, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/10/08/un-expert-condemns-criminalisation-of-ngo-rescuers/

You can read the latest ECCHR report on the Iuventa pretrial, here: https://www.ecchr.eu/en/press-release/nach-7-jahren-staatsanwaltschaft-fordert-einstellung-des-verfahrens-im-iuventa-prozess/ 
 
A few times in the episode, Ben mentions a man, Ibrahima Bah, who was prosecuted in the UK for driving a boat across the Chanel. You can read about him in the Guardian newspaper, here: theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/12/ibrahima-bah-teenage-asylum-seeker-manslaughter
 
Read Ben's written interview with Lea Reisner on The Civil Fleet, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/this-would-not-have-happened-if-the-people-we-found-were-white/
 
Read about former Frontex boss Fabrice Leggeri joining the far right in France: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/former-eu-border-agency-chief-joins-french-far-right-rn-part

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. 
 
--Get in touch---
 
Twitter: @FleetCivil
 
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
 
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
 
Instagram: thecivilfleet
 
info@civilfleet.com
 
civilfleet.com
 
Support:
 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---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