More rescued El Hiblu migrants counter captain's hijacking claims

A court compiling evidence against three teenagers accused of hijacking an oil tanker that rescued a boatload of migrants has heard more witnesses testify that the accused had gone to the bridge at the invitation of the captain.

Mohammed El Sesi from Senegal, one of the 105 migrants picked up in distress by the El-Hiblu 1 in March 2019 appeared in court before magistrate Nadine Lia on Tuesday.

Three teenage asylum seekers – one from Ivory Coast, aged 15, and two from Guinea, aged 16 and 19 – face terrorism-related charges for unlawfully seizing control of the ship.

The three youths deny the charges.

As the case has progressed over the years, the court has heard a large number of the rescued migrants contradict the version of events initially given to the court by the captain of the ship. He testified in April 2019 that the crew had locked themselves in the bridge as the migrants acted aggressively.

Transcripts of the captain radioing for assistance, telling the Maltese authorities that the vessel was “under piracy” and that some crew members had been injured were read out in court.

The captain is also the only witness to mention injuries in the three years of testimony.

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