The Civil Fleet Podcast Ben Cowles

In today's episode we speak with Jelka and Amara.
Amara was one of 108 people who were rescued by an oil tanker, called the El Hiblu 1, in March 2019 after escaping Libya.
The European authorities ordered the El Hiblu 1's crew to wait for the Libyan coastguards to come and take the rescued back to the war-torn country. 
But, the rescued convinced the crew to sail north instead. Amara, along with fellow teenagers Abdalla and Kadar, acted as translators between the refugees and the crew.
The Maltese special forces eventually raided the ship, in full tactical gear, when it got close to the island nation. 
Amara, Abdalla and Kadar were arrested and accused of terrorism, piracy and worse for what is essentially an extraordinary act of humanitarianism. 
They have been stuck in a bureaucratic legal nightmare for four years while the Maltese prosecutors try to figure out what crime to charge them with. 
We're going to hear from Amara briefly about halfway through today's episode. With the pretrial in Malta still ongoing, he is unable to tell us too much about what happened. 
And so, we'll mainly be speaking with Jalka from the Free the El Hiblu 3 campaign. 
She's going to tell us more about what happened to Amara, Abdalla and Kader and the campaign to free them.
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---Show Notes---
For more on the El Hiblu 3 and the Free the El Hiblu 3 campaign, see here: elhiblu3.info
Follow Free the El Hiblu 3 on Twitter on: @ElHiblu3, and on Instagram here: instagram.com/elhiblu3
If you'd like to read the El Hiblu 3 e-book, then go here: elhiblu3.info/book
You can read more about Amara's story here: elhiblu3.info/amara.html
Read Kader's here: elhiblu3.info/kader.html
And Abdalla's here: elhiblu3.info/abdalla.html
Ben mentions an exclusive story he worked on about the rising numbers of deaths at UK Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation. You can read that here: bit.ly/42xtR7v 
Ben and Jelka mention EUNAVFOR MED, which stands for European Union Naval Force Mediterranean. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/3K0LQvP, here: bit.ly/40pF6go, and here: bit.ly/3yY04qO
Ben and Jelka briefly mention the campaign group Refugees In Libya and one of its organisers David Yambio. He appears on episode 29 of The Civil Fleet podcast. 
Here's a link to the Times of Malta documentary on the El Hiblu 3 with English subtitles: bit.ly/3LJJra0
Ben briefly mentions Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity. You can find more about them here: derbyshirerefugeesolidarity.org

In today's episode we speak with Francesca Cancellaro, one of the human rights lawyers representing the Iuventa 4 — four activists on pretrial in Italy after saving over 14,000 lives in the Mediterranean. 
Francesca updates us on the pretrial, walks us through some of the many irregularities prolonging it, and explains why the case is so important for the future of activist-led rescue missions. 
She also tells us why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office to court over the abandonment and destruction of their ship.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
info@civilfleet.com
Support: 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Find more on the Iuventa here: iuventa-crew.org/en
Follow them on Twitter: @IuventaCrew 
Wanna hear more from the Iuventa 4?
Check out Episode 2 with Sascha and Episode 24 with Kathrin of The Civil Fleet podcast. 
Also, check out this 2020 lockdown video interview I did with Darius and Hendrik about the Iuventa. Ten former members of the crew were under investigation then. (Ignore my cringy introduction.) Watch it here: bit.ly/3JwCOq4
Read more about the Iuventa on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/3ZFHf7K
Ben and Francesca mention Matteo Salvini several times throughout this episode. He is a far-right Italian politician, and at the time the Iuventa was operating, he was the country's Interior Minister. 
For more on the No Translation No Justice campaign, see here: bit.ly/3Lo3DOq 
Francesca mentions the ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) at one point in the podcast. For more about them, visit: ecchr.eu/en and/or listen to Episode 15 of The Civil Fleet podcast. 
For more on the February 26 2023 shipwreck off the coast of Italy, see here: bit.ly/3ZIj8FA
Following the shipwreck, Sascha gave this powerful speech in court: bit.ly/3mKgGzG
Francesca also mentions Mary Lawlor, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. You can read her recent statement about the criminalisation of the Iuventa 4 here: bit.ly/3JwhVv4
Read how the ship has been left to rot in port and why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office to court over it here: bit.ly/3mIaND1 
For more on Carola Rackete — captain of the Sea Watch 3 in 2019 who, after the crew had saved 40 lives in the Mediterranean Sea, entered the port of Lampedusa without permission — read this: bit.ly/3ytzRQG

In this episode we speak with Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian refugee who has gone through hell. 
In 2020, Hanad and about 33 others were abandoned by Turkish human traffickers in a dinghy in the Aegean Sea. 
They calle for help, but instead of saving their lives, the Turkish coastguards pushed their boat towards Greek waters.
When they were eventually rescued by the Greek coastguards and taken to Greece, Hanad was arrested for human smuggling because he tried to steer the boat.
In 2021, he was given 142 years behind bars for his supposed crime. But at an appeal court in January this year, his sentence was reduced to eight years and the judge ordered his release.
Hanad tells us his side of the story. 
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
info@civilfleet.com
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In today's episode, we speak with Klaas van Dijken, one of the co-founders of the investigative journalism organisation Lighthouse Reports. 
Klaas talks to us about two recent investigations he and his team worked on:
• How asylum seekers are held in secret prisons on commercial ships to facilitate illegal pushbacks from Italy to Greece, and
• How refugees are being arbitrarily detained and tortured at secret facilities along EU borders before being illegally forced back across borders.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
info@civilfleet.com
Support: 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Lighthouse Reports website can be found here: lighthousereports.nl
To read the two stories discussed in this episode, see here: 
• Detained below deck: bit.ly/3R97fVF
• Europe’s Black Sites: bit.ly/3HAlY8H 
Find Lighthouse Reports on Twitter here: @LHreports
Here's a BBC news story from 2014 on the ECHR ruling on Italy's practice of sending people back to Greece: bbc.in/3DjDMT9  
What is the Dublin Agreement? Read this explainer by InfoMigrants: bit.ly/3WQj9oI
Here's a report from The Brussels Times on the new Frontex chief Hans Leijtens saying the agency needs to "restore trust": bit.ly/408AUlH 
Klaas mentions a report Lighthouse published on Frontex's involvement in illegal pushbacks. You can read that here: bit.ly/3XGhtPv 
Ben mentions the 200 missing asylum seekers children in Britain. Read about that here: bit.ly/3DjeB3d 
Klaas briefly mentions No Name Kitchen. Find out more about them here: nonamekitchen.org and/or check out episode 6 of The Civil Fleet podcast

In today's episode, we speak with Dalia, an activist from the Lithuanian human rights and medical aid organisation, Sienos Grupe (Border Group in English).
She tells us about the conditions faced by people trapped at Lithuania's border with Belarus, which has been sending people towards the EU since 2021, and how Russia may also be involved. 
Dalia describes how Sienos Grupe are helping to prevent pushbacks at the border and support people in the country's refugee camps, as well as those who decide to stay in Lithuania. 
We also hear how some Sienos Grupe members have been criminalised for their human rights work. 
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
info@civilfleet.com
Support: 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on the Sienos Grupe, visit their website here: sienosgrupe.com
Follow Sienos Grupe on Facebook (with updates in English and Lithuanian): facebook.com/sienosgrupe
For more on The Civil Fleet's stories on the Belarus border, see here: bit.ly/3WaC9xJ  
Here's a map of Lithuania and Belarus: bit.ly/3Db62rd  
Want to know more about the protests in Belarus? Check out these articles: bit.ly/3XaGpyz / bit.ly/3ZCiRo0
Here's an August 24, 2020 report by Al Jazeera on the protests in Belarus: bit.ly/3w4vpXG
Read this December 2022 report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on the situation at Lithuania-Belarus border: bit.ly/3ZzZpYU 
Here a 2021 monitoring report by the Lithuanian Red Cross on the situation at the border: bit.ly/3QGJMLl

IN THIS episode we speak with Bethany Rielly, the home affairs reporter at the Morning Star newspaper, about the scandal surrounding the Manston migrant centre in Britain. 
Manston is a former military base in Kent, which opened as a processing centre earlier this year for those who arrived into the country by crossing the Channel. 
Bethany tells us how people are being detained in awful conditions at the overcrowded camp for weeks, when they are only supposed to be held there for 24 hours, and about the outbreak of Victorian-era diseases inside there. 
We discuss how the recent far-right terrorist attack on a migrant processing centre in Dover made things worse for those detained at Manston, and how the British Home Secretary reacted to it with far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories. 
She also tells us about the protests against the conditions inside Manston and why the union that represents border guards is joining legal action against the government over it. 
---Get in touch---
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: 
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
You can follow Bethany Rielly on Twiiter via @bethrielly
And you can find all of her stories for the Morning Star newspaper here: bit.ly/3Gaqwm9
You can find the Morning Star's website here: morningstaronline.co.uk
Or follow it on Twitter here: twitter.com/M_Star_Online
For anyone not familiar with British Politics, "the Tories" is the nickname of the ruling Conservative Party. 
The UK Home Office is similar to the Department of Homeland Security in the US or the Ministry of the Interior and for Community in Germany. 
The Home Secretary is currently Suella Braverman. Before her, it was Priti Patel. Both have been controversial figures and frequently demonised people seeking asylum in Britain.
Here are some links to stories about Braverman's controversies: 
• A general overview of her career in politics: bit.ly/3tt9d88
• A look at five controversial statements she has made: bit.ly/3UY3rat
• And the time she made reference to "cultural Marxism," an antisemitic, Nazi-conspiracy theory: bit.ly/3TyteVq
Confused by, or never heard about, cultural Marxism? Check this video out about it: bit.ly/3E5KUC7
Near the beginning of the episode, Bethany mentions the death of Alan Kurdi. He was a two-year-old Syrian-Kurdish boy who died in a shipwreck off the coast of Turkey. Photographs of his body lying face down on a beach were shown across the world. You can read more about him, here: bit.ly/3TxMEtB
Stand Up to Racism, which Bethany mentions in the podcast, is an anti-fascist organisation. You can find more about them here: standuptoracism.org.uk.
Want to know more about Lesbos? Then check out episode 28 with Alice and Hamid from Borderline Lesvos about their work on the island running a welcome centre for registered refugees
For more on what was happening in Italy as this episode was being recorded, see the stories linked here: bit.ly/3GhUvZh 
For more on the British government's Nationality and Borders Bill, and the Rwanda deportation scheme, check out episode 21 with Doctor's Without Borders (MSF) UK advocacy officer Sophie McCann
Read my exclusive story on the rising numbers of deaths at Home Office asylum-seeker accommodations here: bit.ly/3O2qHlg
Here's some links to Bethany's stories mentioned in this episode:
• Refugee families detained in tents for weeks at ‘wretched’ holding centre in Kent: bit.ly/3WWYLU3
• Migrant centre in Kent ‘catastrophically overcrowded’, ministers warned: bit.ly/3EuheA9
• Protests break out inside ‘catastrophically overcrowded’ asylum processing centre: bit.ly/3WUHXNz
• Children cry for help while trapped ‘like animals in a cage’ in overcrowded asylum centre: bit.ly/3X4jCVE
• Harrowing conditions at Manston made me suicidal, former resident tells Morning Star: bit.ly/3tq9jNS
• Hundreds demand end to ‘illegal and inhumane’ Manston detention centre: bit.ly/3URoMST