"Returning sea migrants to Libya is illegal, Italy's top court says", 18 February 2024

Italy's top appeals court has established that sending sea migrants back to Libya is unlawful, a ruling hailed by charities and human rights groups.

The Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of the captain of an Italian towboat, Asso 28, who in 2018 rescued 101 migrants from a rubber dinghy and returned them to Libya.

The rescue took place in international waters about 105 km off Libya, the court said. Pregnant women and children were among the migrants, it added.

The captain - whose name was blacked out in the ruling for privacy reasons - was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for the crimes of abandoning minors or incapacitated persons, and arbitrary disembarkation and abandonment of persons. [...]

"Now there is also a judicial precedent that confirms what we have been saying for years: Libya is not a safe country", the Mediterranea Saving Humans migrant rescue group said on X. [...]

Back in 2018, the conduct the Asso 28 had attracted the attention of U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, which expressed concern for a possible "violation of international law". [...]