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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Marlene Auer

‘The real smugglers are rarely on the boat’: activists in Greece question jailing asylum seekers

Migrants sit onboard a fishing boat at the port of Paleochora, following a rescue operation off the island of Crete, Greece
People crowded on to the decks of the fishing boat that Mohanad and his father Hassan arrived in at the port of Paleochora in Crete. Photograph: Reuters

Mohanad was 15 years old when he was arrested by the Greek authorities in November 2022 after arriving in Crete on a vessel that had departed from Libya. He has now been charged with smuggling 476 people and is awaiting trial later this year.

He is one of hundreds of people, including children and people travelling with their families, who have been arrested under Greece’s harsh anti-smuggling law that came into force in 2014 with jail sentences of up to 25 years.

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