On 28 March 2025, we acknowledge the 6th anniversary of Abdalla, Amara and Kader arriving in Malta. Six years of dreams on hold. Six years of legal limbo. Six years of going to court and leaving frustrated. An anniversary that carries a lot of pain but also six years of strength, resilience and friendship. Abdalla, Amara and Kader reached Malta on 28 March 2019. They were arrested, accused of terrorism, hijacking a ship, and threatening a crew, and were put on trial by Malta. They were among 100 migrants rescued by the tanker El Hiblu 1, which then attempted to take them back to Libya – the place they had tried to escape from. The larger group of migrants protested the forced return when identifying the shores of Libya. Some threatened to jump overboard in the prospect of being exposed to violence in Libya again. Amara, who attended a Catholic school as a youngster and learned English, interpreted between crew and migrants in this tense situation. Abdalla and Kader were called to his side, to help calm the situation. The three youngsters hadn’t known each other until that moment. Requesting a safe passage to Europe eventually led the tanker to turn around towards Malta. The Armed Forces stormed the ship upon entering Maltese territorial waters in the early morning hours on 28 March, 2019. Reportedly, the military was not met with violent resistance – yet, despite that, Abdalla, Amara and Kader were arrested and accused of severe crimes, including terrorism and hijacking a vessel, once the tanker docked. Abdalla, Amara and Kader were 19, 15 and 16 years of age when they departed from Libya. When they arrived in Malta two days later, their childhood was over. After seven months of detention – the first few weeks in a high-security prison wing – they were released on bail but that only marks the beginning of their ongoing legal limbo. The ‘El Hiblu 3’ endure one challenge after another, despite maintaining a stable and responsible lifestyle limited by restrictive bail conditions. After work, they sign in at the police station, go home, pray, cook, rest and go to work again. Once a month, this pattern is disrupted when they are called in to attend court. This has sadly become their normality over the last 6 years. They are stuck in a legal nightmare that puts their lives on hold, depriving them of making plans, such as attending school or getting a driver's license. Abdalla, who is trying to build a normal life with his wife and daughter, has every perspective overshadowed by the fear of being unjustly imprisoned again. 2021 – two years of struggle In February 2021, the former El Hiblu ship, renamed to Nehir, was found to be carrying over 1.8 tonnes of cocaine. Despite attempts by the crew to sink the vessel once they realised they were being intercepted, the Spanish police managed to recover the illegal cargo at the entrance of the Bay of Biscay. The vessel owner was the same person of 2019, Salah Ali Mohammed El Hiblu. The El Hiblu 3’s defence lawyer Cedric Mifsud, specialist in maritime law said the owner would have been aware of the vessels doing(1), questioning their testimonies credibility in the El Hiblu trial and the grounds for Malta to continue the trial against the three young migrants. Two years into the evidence gathering, the Attorney General declares having no more evidence to bring. By that time, the Armed Forces of Malta, the El Hiblu 1’s crew and some experts had been heard but none of the survivors had been invited to testify. Only upon request of the ‘El Hiblu 3’s defence, fellow travelers of Abdalla, Amara and Kader were summoned to court. To no surprise after all the time passed, many of those key eye-witnesses couldn’t be located anymore. 14 of the total 100 passengers testified in the coming year, corroborating what the El Hiblu 3 have always affirmed: that they are innocent. In spite of the tremendous international support of legal scholars, politicians and human rights actors, the Attorney General filed charges in November 2023. All nine preliminary charges were formalised in the Bill of Indictment against Abdalla, Amara and Kader. 2024 A few hearings into the criminal trial, Abdalla and Amara were due back in the Courts of Justice in Valletta on 6 November 2024. Julienne from Dance Beyond Borders came to attend and found herself seated inside the courtroom, witnessing the proceedings first hand. As Julienne entered, she realised it was her first time in a courtroom. “Reflecting on my own privilege, I was struck by my naivety; I had never grasped the rigour of courtroom decorum – strict rules for attire, behaviour, and conduct. The formality unsettled me, as I usually associate such attire with celebrations and ceremonies. It felt oddly incongruous, almost surreal, to see people so formally dressed for a hearing against three young men facing charges of terrorism – a trial that should never have started. Absorbing the scene in the courtroom, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of it all – how the fates of Abdalla, Amara, and Kader rest in the hands of Judges elevated on their platform – supporters, lawyers and the defendants layered below them. Sitting there, I felt a strange disconnect – the proceedings presented as precise and factual, yet it’s clear that facts can be shaped to support varying perspectives.” This hearing was focused on an appeal by the defence, challenging Malta’s jurisdiction over the case. Exploring the question, whether Malta should be allowed to proceed over events that took place on the El Hiblu 1 between the 26 and 28 March 2019, given that the alleged crimes happened outside of Malta’s territorial waters. Further, the defence stressed that the events off the Libyan coast were beyond Malta’s rightful authority to prosecute. And what is being called “terrorism” in the El Hiblu 3 case was actually a non-violent protest by migrants, who have the right to protect themselves from an illegal return to war-torn Libya. Just recently, on 22 January 2025, we entered the courtroom again, hoping for a positive decision on the matter of jurisdiction. Within seconds, our hope was shattered into a thousand shards, like a fallen glass. The session was concluded after only 30 seconds with a dismissal of the appeal by the Court of Criminal Appeals, confirming the decision of the Maltese Criminal court. The large group of supporters, together with Amara and Abdalla, left the court in consternation. “They don’t have the right to steal our lives from us. I can’t take it anymore. Will I ever see my family again?” says Amara with sagging shoulders and tears in his eyes. The case of Malta against the El Hiblu 3 had been split into two different proceedings after Kader didn’t appear for a hearing in winter 2023. While Abdalla and Amara continued their frequent visits in the Courts of Valletta, Kader was not seen since then. In February 2025 he reappeared in the UK, being arrested. The young man from Ivory Coast, who once dreamt of becoming a footballer had his dreams shattered when he fell off a construction site building in Valletta 2020; he had started management classes in Malta, never giving up hope for justice and an independent life. He will remain in custody in England and has to attend six more sessions in court before a decision on his extradition will be made in September 2025. A lifetime The six-year legal limbo for Abdalla, Amara and Kader now prolongs over fifty hearings, the two-year delay in inviting key eyewitnesses, repeated denials of adequate translation, witnesses held in contempt with the court, interminable delays in the hearings and the presentation of the Indictment. Yet, there is still no end in sight. Adding up those years of youth stolen from the El Hiblu 3 it accumulates to a total of 18 years – that could be a person's entire underage lifetime. It is difficult not to wonder about the overarching context of Malta’s unique geopolitical situation. Malta's vastly expanded SAR (Search and Rescue) region stretches all across the Mediterranean basin and covers some 260,000 square kilometers². For years now, Malta has fallen short of its SAR responsibilities, failing to ensure timely rescues and safe disembarkation of people in distress in the Central Mediterranean. Alongside the four-year-old Loujin³, who died of thirst after being adrift for days in Maltas SAR-region, countless others have lost their lives due to pure neglect. Rather than providing support, Malta excels in preventing the initiation of needed rescue measures, relies on Italy and cooperates with Libyan actors and so-called authorities to intercept migrants and forcefully return them to Libya – a place described by international organisations as “Hell on Earth”⁴ for people in distress. Organisations such as Aditus, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized Malta for its failure to conduct timely rescues and its complicity in returning migrants to Libya, where they face severe human rights abuses. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has also highlighted Malta's shortcomings in fulfilling its international obligations regarding search and rescue operations. This collective outcry underscores the urgent need for Malta to reassess its policies and take responsibility for those seeking refuge within its waters. However, the opposite in fact is happening. Prime Minister Robert Abela calls for a revision of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), specifically the interpretations of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture), targeting the rights of asylum seekers.⁵ Where is the empathy? Migration is a part of Malta’s culture and history, the country and its people shaped by movement and colonization. Every family knows someone who has left the island. In that context, Malta’s strategic negligence towards people in distress as well as the criminalisation of Abdalla, Amara, and Kader seems like an even greater injustice. It adheres to other European attempts in weaponizing the law against migrants, making examples of individuals for the purpose of deterrence. We feel appalled at Maltas hypocrisy and shamelessness, abusing teenagers for their political games. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani appealed to the Maltese authorities to reconsider the charges against the three teenagers already in 2019.⁶ In recent years, President Emeritus of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro⁷ and his holiness Pope Francis have taken a stance for the El Hiblu 3⁸. We have seen too many people die in Maltese waters or be pushed back; the cries for help ignored, swallowed by the silence of bureaucracy. Malta, once a nation of seafarers, has turned its back on those in need, neglecting its duty to rescue, delaying urgent calls, and choosing indifference over humanity. Now, at the sixth anniversary of their arrival and arrest in Malta, we will again stand close together in solidarity and uplift our voices to say loud and clear “Free the El Hiblu 3.” Jelka Kretzschmar, Julienne Schembri
^{1) https://timesofmalta.com/article/ship-cocaine-bust-exonerate-el-hiblu-three-defence-lawyer-says.1034442 2) https://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/474/4742149010/html/ 3) https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/118843/loujin_young_girl_who_died_of_thirst_after_delayed_rescue_buried_in_crete 4) https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/01/21/no-escape-hell/eu-policies-contribute-abuse-migrants-libya, https://www.ecchr.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Redacted_Art_15__Communication_to_the_ICC_on_crimes_against_refugees_and_migrants_in_Libya.pdf 5) https://timesofmalta.com/article/government-urged-address-rights-breaches-rather-amend-law.1107136 6) https://x.com/UNHumanRights/status/1125786953515925506 7) https://timesofmalta.com/article/el-hiblu-3-total-waste-country-time-marie-louise-coleiro-preca.1036739 8) https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-04/video-highlights-pope-francis-apostolic-journey-malta.html}