Tag Archives: Detention

154 migrants Caught in Dikili

Via Milliyet (Link in Turkish) – 154 migrants were caught in Dikili, a district of Izmir, while they were trying to cross to the Greek island Lesvos by rubber boats. The Coast Guard teams intervened and intercepted 154 migrants, including women and children, mostly from Syrian, Cameroon, Ghana, Angola and Senegal. They were first brought to the Dikili Coast Guard Command. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has provided humanitarian assistance for them. It is stated that they will be sent to the Izmir Provincial Directorate of Migration after the proceedings.

157 migrants were caught in Erzincan

Via Anadolu Ajansı (Link in Turkish) – In two separate incidents in the Uzumlu county of Erzincan, 157 illegal migrants were arrested.

The gendarmerie teams were controlling on the Eastern Express train, which travels from Kars to Ankara, when they realized that a group of 40 people, nationals from Afghanistan and Pakistan, two of them women, 3 of them children, where holding fake documents. Continue reading 157 migrants were caught in Erzincan

79 migrants crossing into Turkey from Iran caught in Artvin

Via CNNTürk (Link in Turkish) – According to information received, 79 migrants – 68 from Afghanistan and 11 from Pakistan – entered Turkey through Iran illegally. They took a bus from Dogubayazit to Artvin and from there wanted to go to different provinces of Turkey, especially to Istanbul. Continue reading 79 migrants crossing into Turkey from Iran caught in Artvin

55 migrants were caught in Ayvalık

Via Milliyet (Link in Turkish) – 55 immigrants from Balikesir’s Ayvalık district who were trying to cross to the Greek island Lesvos were caught by the Coast Guard Command.

According to the information received, the Ayvaçk Coast Guard Command teams detected 55 migrants on an inflatable boat in the morning on the Sarımsaklı Beaches in Küçükköy District. The Coast Guard teams, which immediately took action rescued 55 migrants, including women and children, who were under the threat of overturning. Continue reading 55 migrants were caught in Ayvalık

50 migrants were caught in Urla

Via CNN Türk (Link in Turkish) – Fifty migrants, including women and children trying to escape via the Aegean Sea by boat were caught by coast guard teams in the Urla province of Izmir.

The Coast Guard identified the boat, when the migrants where already in the water.

A total of 50 migrants were arrested, including 26 Syrian, 12 people from Angola, five from Togo, four from Somalia, two from Cameroon and one Iraqi national. Continue reading 50 migrants were caught in Urla

Rare look at life inside Lesbos’ Moria refugee camp

Via AlJazeera – Images capture living conditions the Greek island’s largest camp, home to thousands of refugees and migrants

In March 2016, the European Union and Turkey signed a controversial deal to prevent refugees and migrants from reaching Europe. As part of the agreement, the Greek government confined refugees and migrants to five islands for the duration of their asylum process. Today, it is estimated that more than 7,600 asylum seekers live on Lesbos. Continue reading Rare look at life inside Lesbos’ Moria refugee camp

Joint Announcement by the Panhellenic Network of Antiracist and Solidarity Collectivities: Freedom to the 35 arrested at Moria

In Solidarity with the 35 people arrested after uprisings in Moria camp in July 2017, we repost this Joint Statement by the Panhellenic Network of Antiracist and Solidarity Collectivities:

“On 18/7/17 refugees and immigrants, victims of wars but also extreme poverty or persecutions in their countries, demonstrated in Moria, protesting for the failing to have their substantiated asylum claims examined, resulting in them being held in the infamous Lesvos hot spot for a very long time in which, indicatively, killed at least 5 people last winter, due to the unacceptable living conditions as well as the dozens of suicide attempts reported. Continue reading Joint Announcement by the Panhellenic Network of Antiracist and Solidarity Collectivities: Freedom to the 35 arrested at Moria

Nigerian man deported despite serious health condition on November 30th

Via No Border Kitchen Lesvos – Two brothers from Nigeria who made the deadly crossing from Turkey to Lesvos in a rubber dinghy were immediately detained in the pre-removal prison inside the so-called “Hotspot camp”, Moria. For almost three months they were isolated from society, adequate legal assistance or support structures. All refugees from countries with less than 33% acceptance rate (which are more than 28 countries including Syrian single men) can currently be detained immediately after their arrival on Lesvos, for the entire duration of their asylum procedure. While the two brothers were held in detention, their asylum application was rejected twice under the fast-track border procedure implemented on the Greek islands since the EU-Turkey statement of March 18th 2016. It has been repeatedly pointed out by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and lawyers such as those from the Legal Centre Lesbos that the fast-track procedure tramples roughshod over human rights. In practice, individuals are targeted because of their nationality and stripped of their legal right to a fair and proper asylum hearing.

Continue reading Nigerian man deported despite serious health condition on November 30th

Dubious Deportations to Turkey Prevented!

On Thursday, 23rd November 2017, the deportation of two migrants was stopped last minute. The two men from Iran and Afghanistan were held in detention on Lesvos Island. Shortly before they were transported to the harbour of Mytilene to be quietly deported to Turkey via ferry, lawyers and activists managed to intervene and stop the deportation of the two men. Eight other people from Haiti, Tunisia, Afghanistan and Pakistan were however deported and will be detained in Turkey, among them a family with a small child.

For the two cases that were stopped, there were serious doubts about the lawfulness of the deportation practice. Alireza Kamran[1] from Iran is suffering from severe health problems while Tarik Chian from Afghanistan was prevented from exhausting his legal remedies in Greece. The names and cases of the other deportees were not known to the lawyers and activists monitoring the deportation. Therefore the legality of their deportation cannot be assessed but it is doubted that the persons concerned have received sufficient support to challenge second instance rejections.

Continue reading Dubious Deportations to Turkey Prevented!

Greece releases Dutch reporter ‘taken for smuggler’

Via AlJazeera – Dutch journalist Sakir Khader, who was detained on Monday at the Greek-Turkish border, has been released from police custody in Greece.

Khader, who was reporting on refugees crossing into Greece via Turkey, was handed a suspended five-month prison sentence on Tuesday for entering a restricting military area near the town of Didymoteicho without permission, Greek police told Al Jazeera. Continue reading Greece releases Dutch reporter ‘taken for smuggler’