Suspected people smugglers accused of causing five deaths including that of child whose washed-up body shocked world
Two suspected people smugglers charged with causing the death of five people, including the Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, have gone on trial in Turkey.
The picture of the three-year-old boy lying face down on a Turkish beach after the dinghy in which he and his family had been travelling capsized sparked outrage across the world in September.
On Thursday Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad went on trial at the criminal court in the Turkish town of Bodrum. Both face charges of people smuggling and causing the death of five people, including Alan Kurdi, his five-year-old brother, Galip, and their mother, Rehan, “through deliberate negligence”.
If convicted, they face up to 35 years in prison. According to Turkish media, both men declared their innocence, instead blaming Abdullah Kurdi, Alan’s father and accusing him of having organised the trip.
Alfrhad told the court: “I don’t know why I am here or why I have been jailed for the past five months. My family spoke with the survivors after the accident...They said Abdullah Kurdi headed this and that he then went on television as a hero.”
When a similar allegation were made last year, Kurdi vehemently denied it, saying he was devastated by the claims and the loss of his family. “This is too much for me and now they want to ruin my reputation,” he said.
“This is not true. If I was a people smuggler, why would I put my family in the same boat as the other people? I paid the same amount to the people smugglers.”
The trial of the two men has been postponed. The next hearing will be in MarchThe trial has been adjourned until 2 March.
As the hearing got under way, the body of a girl about the age of 8 washed up on the shore of the resort of Didim, just north of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. The agency said she was believed to have drowned some 15 days ago in a migrant boat accident.
Alan Kurdi was one of more than one million people who crossed the Mediterranean last year in a bid to reach Europe, with 3,770 dying on the perilous sea route, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Since the start of this year, 403 people have died or gone missing, and nearly 10 times as many refugees and migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 as in the same period last year.
The images of his death temporarily galvanised public opinion, pressuring European governments to tackle the continent’s refugee crisis. But five months on, Brussels has yet to come up with an effective means of handling the biggest wave of migration to Europe since the second world war.
The Kurdi family, who had came from the Kurdish town of Kobani in northernSyria, were on their way to the Greek island of Kos when the small rubber boat they were travelled in capsized.
For three years preceding the drownings they had lived in poverty in Turkey before deciding to head to Canada, where Abdullah’s sister, Tima Kurdi, lives. Syrian refugees are not allowed to legally work in Turkey, which forces many to leave.
Turkey, long blamed for turning a blind eye to the people smuggling at its shores, has cracked down on smugglers and irregular border crossings after striking a highly controversial deal with Brussels, under which the EU pledged €3bn (£2.2bn) and political concessions to Ankara in exchange for increased border patrols.
The picture of the three-year-old boy lying face down on a Turkish beach after the dinghy in which he and his family had been travelling capsized sparked outrage across the world in September.
On Thursday Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad went on trial at the criminal court in the Turkish town of Bodrum. Both face charges of people smuggling and causing the death of five people, including Alan Kurdi, his five-year-old brother, Galip, and their mother, Rehan, “through deliberate negligence”.
If convicted, they face up to 35 years in prison. According to Turkish media, both men declared their innocence, instead blaming Abdullah Kurdi, Alan’s father and accusing him of having organised the trip.
Alfrhad told the court: “I don’t know why I am here or why I have been jailed for the past five months. My family spoke with the survivors after the accident...They said Abdullah Kurdi headed this and that he then went on television as a hero.”
When a similar allegation were made last year, Kurdi vehemently denied it, saying he was devastated by the claims and the loss of his family. “This is too much for me and now they want to ruin my reputation,” he said.
“This is not true. If I was a people smuggler, why would I put my family in the same boat as the other people? I paid the same amount to the people smugglers.”
The trial of the two men has been postponed. The next hearing will be in MarchThe trial has been adjourned until 2 March.
As the hearing got under way, the body of a girl about the age of 8 washed up on the shore of the resort of Didim, just north of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. The agency said she was believed to have drowned some 15 days ago in a migrant boat accident.
Alan Kurdi was one of more than one million people who crossed the Mediterranean last year in a bid to reach Europe, with 3,770 dying on the perilous sea route, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Since the start of this year, 403 people have died or gone missing, and nearly 10 times as many refugees and migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 as in the same period last year.
The images of his death temporarily galvanised public opinion, pressuring European governments to tackle the continent’s refugee crisis. But five months on, Brussels has yet to come up with an effective means of handling the biggest wave of migration to Europe since the second world war.
The Kurdi family, who had came from the Kurdish town of Kobani in northernSyria, were on their way to the Greek island of Kos when the small rubber boat they were travelled in capsized.
For three years preceding the drownings they had lived in poverty in Turkey before deciding to head to Canada, where Abdullah’s sister, Tima Kurdi, lives. Syrian refugees are not allowed to legally work in Turkey, which forces many to leave.
Turkey, long blamed for turning a blind eye to the people smuggling at its shores, has cracked down on smugglers and irregular border crossings after striking a highly controversial deal with Brussels, under which the EU pledged €3bn (£2.2bn) and political concessions to Ankara in exchange for increased border patrols.
After a meeting on Monday between Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Turkish prime minister, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, Ankara promised to implement a range of measures to reduce the number of refugees coming to the EU.
One such measure would designate human smuggling as a form of organised crime, which would mean harsher punishment for perpetrators. Human rights activists have warned that such crackdowns and tighter border controls will only prompt smugglers to choose riskier routes, which in turn will lead to more deaths.
One such measure would designate human smuggling as a form of organised crime, which would mean harsher punishment for perpetrators. Human rights activists have warned that such crackdowns and tighter border controls will only prompt smugglers to choose riskier routes, which in turn will lead to more deaths.
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