2023-12-02
SYROS - In April 2022, Abdalla Jaloul was sentenced to 187 years in prison for human trafficking and homicide.
The young Syrian was driving a boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Italy when it shipwrecked near the Greek island of Syros, killing 18 passengers.
Human trafficking is considered to be an extremely profitable business, yet Jaloul earned nothing for his “job” except a free journey. The person who organised the crossing and who had been paid by all the passengers was not on the boat and was never charged. Jaloul's case is far from exceptional. In Spain, Italy, Great Britain, Greece and France, hundreds of 'captains' who claim to be 'just migrants' have been convicted like Jaloul. Our investigation, based on several cases in five European countries (France, Greece, Spain, Italy and the UK), shows how the police and the justice system, supported by Frontex, systematically criminalise those who are the easiest to find, regardless of their actual role in the organisation or the profit they did or did not gain.
Our story highlights the complex reality behind these convictions, which many politicians present as proof of effective border control.
📷 Fabien Perrier
On stage with Mediavivant
Supported
€10,000 allocated on 10/11/2022ID
ECB/2022/767Tags
ONLINE
- “Todo el mundo me pedía que tomara el timón”, Contexto y Acción 02/12/2023
- La criminalización de los capitanes de cayucos, El Salto Diario 08/12/2023.
- Syyllinen vai syntipukki – Euroopan maissa tuomitaan salakuljettajina ihmisiä, jotka erottaa muista tulijoista vain se, ettei heillä ollut rahaa maksaa matkastaan Välimeren yli, Maailman Kuvalehti, 31/01/2024.
- Des îles grecques aux Canaries, comment la politique répressive européenne punit les migrants davantage que les passeurs, Liberation, 08/04/2024.
- Les migrants dans le piège de la traque contre les passeurs, Le Soir, 20.05.2024.
- Migration : en Grande-Bretagne, une loi de plus en plus répressive, Le Soir, 20/05/2024.
- Des migrants accusés d’être des passeurs : l’Europe à la peine face aux clandestins, Le Télégramme, 03/06/2024.
- Smokkelaar of vluchteling?, De Groene Amsterdammer, 04/12/2024.
- Pour défendre les migrants, six avocats se jettent à l’eau, Revue21.fr, 07/04/2025.
- Syyllinen vai Syntipukki?, Maailman Kuvalehti, 08/12/2023.
Impact
- « Passeurs » malgré eux, Mediapart, 16/03/2025. (Presentation)
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