“Justice has proven elusive for the Three. They have been punished before even standing for trial: six years in limbo for teenagers has marked them for life. The charges should be dropped, immediately!”
Daniela De Bono, Coalition for the El Hiblu 3
The 28th of March 2025 marked the sixth anniversary of the arrival of the El Hiblu 3 in Malta. Abdalla, Amara, and Kader arrived in 2019, when they were only 15, 16 and 19 years old. Their journeys had already been long and arduous. Strangers to each other, they had travelled separately over many months from Guinea and the Ivory Coast. In Libya, they witnessed and endured unspeakable violence that propelled them north in the hope of finding peace and new opportunities to make a life and find safety.
Free the El Hiblu 3 Conference, March 2022
Yet when they arrived in Malta on 28 March 2019, they were met with further violence. Maltese authorities charged them with ‘terrorism’ and hijacking a ship and incarcerated them for seven months in Corradino, Malta’s adult prison. Facing such extreme charges, these three young men have steadfastly maintained that they are neither terrorists nor hijackers. Rescued by an oil tanker in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, they acted as translators and mediators between frightened passengers and crew members.
Since then, they have endured a seemingly endless legal process riddled with failures. At the same time, many have supported them in their struggle to clear their names. Last year, the Coalition for the El Hiblu 3 joined with numerous other groups and individuals to celebrate them as Human Rights Defenders for helping to avert an illegal pushback to Libya and for saving lives.
The next court hearing with more submissions on the specific charges will take place on the 12th of June in the court of Valetta. Our solidarity will continue.
El Hiblu3 coalition
More information: https://elhiblu3coalition.org/
