A Syrian asylum seeker accused of travelling illegally to Sweden was given a suspended sentence after being deported back to Malta.

Police inspector Mario Haber told the court that Feras Al Haddad, 31, was one of the migrants who survived the 2013 Lampedusa boat tragedy.

Mr Haddad travelled out of Malta illegally to reach Sweden via Germany. He was caught by Swedish police and traced back to Malta through the pan-European fingerprinting system.

Migrants are fingerprinted in the first country in which they seek asylum and remain the responsibility of that State.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, by Magistrate Charmaine Galea.

Mr Haddad was represented by legal aid lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.