A pregnant Somali migrant, who was separated from her husband and returned to Libya during a sea rescue last July, endured the trauma of giving birth to a stillborn baby alone two months later, according to Amnesty International.
Reporting the story of Ahmed Mahmoud and Mariam Hussein, Amnesty slammed Malta for believing its only obligations towards asylum seekers was to ensure their physical safety at sea.
It said a group of 55 migrants were rescued in a joint operation by Libyan and Maltese armed forces at sea and, “thinking they would be taken to Italy”, 27 boarded a rescue vessel until one of them overheard Arabic and realised the boat would be headed for Libya.
In the chaos, where some migrants jumped in the sea and threatened to commit suicide, Mr Mahmoud and his wife, who was seven months pregnant, were separated and the rescue vessels went in opposite directions.
Mr Mahmoud had spoken to The Sunday Times about his ordeal in July where he made a heartfelt plea to the authorities to help him bring his wife from Libya.
According to accounts given to Amnesty, all males returned to Libya were lined up against a wall and beaten with batons while some were given electric shocks during interrogation.
The report accuses Libya of systematic torture of migrants and of refusing to acknowledge the difference between illegal immigrants and refugees eligible for protection.
“Most commonly, detainees are punched or hit with metal wires or batons. Sometimes, guards hit detainees to punish them for requesting medical treatment or complaining about their conditions. At other times, the beatings appear to be done for no reason at all.”
The report says women are most vulnerable in Libya and one woman was reportedly forced to cut her umbilical cord with a piece of “dirty metal”.
“Sa’adiya Moussa, a Somali woman, told Amnesty International in Malta she had a miscarriage in Ganfouda detention centre in Libya after guards beat and kicked her, causing severe bleeding. A week lapsed before she was taken to hospital.”
Entitled Seeking Safety, Finding Fear, the report also criticises Malta for taking part in the forcible return or removal of already vulnerable individuals to Libya.
It calls on the Maltese authorities to end the practice of mandatory detention and set standards at open residential centres, while providing enough medical staff and social workers to cater for migrants’ needs.
Regarding the cooperation agreements signed between the European Commission and the Libyan authorities, Amnesty says: “EU-Libya cooperation needs to have human rights and responsibility-sharing at its core – the founding principles of international protection. The EU and its member states must not turn a blind eye to continuing human rights violations in Libya when seeking Libya’s cooperation to stem the flow of people arriving in the EU from Africa.”
Amnesty’s report also speaks about the unhygienic and “deplorable” conditions in Malta’s open centres.
A Somali human rights defender reported his seven months in detention where he suffered from depression. “He did not have access to outdoor space and was trapped with 48 other men in a cell equipped with three showers and two toilets.” He then lived in the Ħal Far hangar where he slept on a mattress on the floor inside a windowless hangar with 450 other people.
“He said sanitary conditions were so poor rats bit him at night. He now lives in a container with 15 other men.” The Maltese Jesuit Refugee Service recently called on the government to bring Malta’s detention laws and policies for irregular immigrants in line with its human rights obligations.
It urged the government not to use detention or to do so only as a last resort when “less coercive measures proved insufficient to secure the individual’s removal from national territory”.
“It is a cause of great concern to JRS that people fleeing war, persecution, torture and other serious violations of their human rights are subjected to prolonged detention, without adequate guarantees of protection from arbitrariness because of their irregular immigration status,” director Fr Joe Cassar said.
Reacting, the Justice Ministry insisted all Maltese laws and policies were in line with and conformed to EU laws and the European Convention for Fundamental Human Rights.
As a result, the government believes it should not change its detention policy which is similar to that adopted by other member states.