A Libyan fisherman was cleared of human smuggling charges when a magistrate believed his extraordinary story which saw him tied up and arrested for three days on his boat by the Egyptian crew he was suspected to have trafficked.
Abdusalam Mohamed Abushaalah, 32, spent 14 months in preventive custody after the police refused to believe his version that his fishing boat was hijacked by the five Egyptian men who had him tied up.
The crew and Mr Abushaalah set sail from the Libyan port of Surt on July 7, 2008 with all the necessary working permits. Once on the high seas, the crew hijacked the boat, tied up Mr Abushaalah and kept sailing north for three days.
Eventually, the boat came across an Armed Forces of Malta vessel. At this point, Mr Abushaalah said he managed to untie himself and jumped into the water to call for help. There was a communication problem between the soldiers and him and they ended up seizing the boat and arresting both Mr Abushaalah and the Egyptians.
The Egyptians told the police they had paid €3,000 each to Mr Abushaalah for him to take them to Italy illegally and the police accepted this version over that of Mr Abushaalah.
Magistrate Anthony Vella said the circumstances surrounding the fishermen’s arrest were likely to lead the police to believe he was actually illegally taking the Egyptians to Italy, given that, at the time, there were many boats coming to Malta.
However, the magistrate said that after examining all the evidence he was “absolutely convinced” that Mr Abushaalah was telling the truth and listed the details which corroborated his version of events.
Firstly, it did not make sense for the Egyptian men to get licences from the government and the police to work as fishermen and then escape from the country, where they would be known.
Furthermore, Mr Abushaalah had the men registered on his boat, which meant it would be suspicious returning from Italy without them.
It was easy for the five men to come up with a story of what happened. However, the accused explained every detail, from the day he met them to the time he was arrested and charged.
Moreover, the magistrate pointed out the scars on Mr Abushaalah’s wrists were compatible to the sort of marks one would sustain if left tied up for days.
It also did not make financial sense for him to traffic only five people when his boat could take 30 or even more, the magistrate noted.
Lawyers Giannella Caruana Curran and Joseph Giglio appeared for Mr Abushaalah.