Italian Court Upholds Sea Tragedy Sentence against Lebanese Captain
Italy”s highest appeals court on Wednesday upheld a 30-year jail sentence against a Lebanese sea captain over his role in the deaths of 283 migrants in a Mediterranean tragedy 13 years ago.
Italy”s domestic ANSA news agency said the Court of Cassation confirmed the jail sentence given to Youssef el-Hallal, captain of the boat Yohan, thus upholding an appeal court ruling from April 9 last year.
The captain, who is currently at large outside Italy, was involved in an attempt to smuggle some 400 migrants from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka between Malta and Sicily on December 26, 1996.
The migrants were transferred at sea from the Yohan to a second vessel, the Natale. But when that ship began to take on water, it called the Yohan to come to its aid.
Only some migrants were saved, as no call for help was sent to other ships in the vicinity.
Besides statements from the survivors, Italian investigators used parts of the shipwreck, which was discovered some years later, to pursue the owners of the vessels and their captains.