Six years of El Hiblu 3: a story of struggle and allyship!

On 28 March 2025 we acknowledge the 6th anniversary of Abdalla, Amara, and Kader arriving in Malta. Six years of dreams are on hold. Six years of legal limbo. Six years of going to court and leaving frustrated. An anniversary that carries a lot of pain but also six years of strength, resilience, and friendship.

Abdalla, Amara, and Kader reached Malta on 28 March 2019. They were arrested, accused of terrorism, hijacking a ship, and threatening a crew on the tanker El Hiblu 1, then put on trial by Malta. They were among 100 migrants rescued by a tanker, which afterward attempted to bring them back to Libya, the place they had tried to escape from. The migrants protested a forced return to Libya, requesting a safe passage to Europe which led the tanker to turn around towards Malta. Malta’s Armed Forces stormed the ship upon entering Maltese territorial waters in the early morning hours on 28 March. The Armed Forces found no violent resistance, yet despite that, Abdalla, Amara, and Kader were arrested and accused of severe crimes once the tanker docked.

After seven months of detention, they were released on bail – but that only marked the beginning of their ongoing legal limbo. The El Hiblu 3 endure one challenge after another, whilst maintaining a stable and “responsible” lifestyle: After work, they sign in at the police station, go home, pray, cook, rest, and go to work again. Once a month this pattern is disrupted when they are called in to attend court. It became sadly a normality in their young lives to be stuck in a legal nightmare that has put their lives on hold, depriving them of making plans for their lives, such as attending school or getting a driver’s license. Their bail conditions don’t allow them any light teenage days, nights out, or a visit to the coast.

On 6 November 2024, the El Hiblu 3 were due back in the Courts of Justice in Valletta. Julienne from Dance Beyond Borders came to attend and found herself seated inside the courtroom, witnessing the proceedings firsthand. As Julienne entered, she realized it was her first time in a courtroom.

“Reflecting on my own privilege, I was struck by my naivety; I had never grasped the rigor of courtroom decorum – strict rules for attire, behavior, and conduct. The formality unsettled me, as I usually associate such attire with celebrations and ceremonies. It felt oddly incongruous, almost surreal, to see people so formally dressed for a hearing against three young men facing charges of terrorism – a trial that should never have started. Absorbing the scene in the courtroom, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of it all – how the fates of Abdalla, Amara, and Kader rest in the hands of Judges elevated on their platform supporters, lawyers, and the defendants layered below them. Sitting there, I felt a strange disconnect – the proceedings presented as precise and factual, yet it’s clear that facts can be shaped to support varying perspectives. People interpret situations through the lens of their own history, ethics, and experiences.”

This hearing, one among countless others over the last six years[1], focused on appeals by the defense, challenging Malta’s jurisdiction over the case. The appeal followed a dismissed plea to the charges in Criminal court from May 2024 and had moved to the Courts of Appeal to challenge whether Malta could proceed events that took place on the El Hiblu 1 between the 26 and 28 March 2019, given that the alleged crimes happened outside of Malta’s territorial waters. We listened as the defense argued that this case, which had persisted for so long, was beyond Malta’s rightful authority to prosecute and that one has the right to protect themselves from an illegal return to war-torn Libya. The defense stressed that what is being called “terrorism” in the El Hiblu 3 case was a non-violent protest by migrants who were rescued off the Libyan coast on 26 March 2019.

On 22 January 2025, we entered the courtroom again, hoping for a decision on the matter of jurisdiction. Within seconds, our hope was shattered into a thousand shards, like fallen glass. The session was concluded after 30 seconds with a dismissal of the appeal by the Court of Criminal Appeals and thus confirming the decision of the Maltese Criminal Court. The large group of supporters, together with Amara and Abdalla, left the court in consternation.

The case of Malta against the El Hiblu 3 had been split into two different proceedings after Kader didn’t appear for a hearing in winter 2023. While Abdalla and Amara continued their frequent visits in the Courts of Valletta, Kader was not seen. Now, he appeared in the UK in the first week of February after having been arrested. A first hearing regarding pending extradition to Malta took place on Monday, 17 February 2025 in London. He will remain in custody and has to attend six more sessions in court a decision on his extradition will be made in September 2025.

Throughout the El Hiblu 3 trial in Malta, roundabout 50 hearings, six years of legal limbo, two years of delay in inviting eyewitnesses from the rescued people to testify, and infinite delays of hearings and presenting the Bill of Indictment, it is difficult not to wonder about the overarching context of Malta’s unique geopolitical situation, movement of people and the sea and the lives of the three now young men and what they could be like if they weren’t caught up in legal limbo.

Malta’s vastly expanded SAR (Search and Rescue) region stretches all across the Mediterranean basin and covers some 260,000 square kilometers[2]. For years now, Malta has fallen short of its SAR responsibilities, failing to ensure timely rescues and safe disembarkation of people in distress in the Med. Rather than providing support, Malta excels in preventing the initiation of needed rescue measures, relies on Italy, and cooperates with Libyan actors and authorities to intercept migrants to return them to Libya – a place described by international stakeholders as “Hell on Earth”[3][4] for people in distress.

When Abdalla, Amara, and Kader departed from Libya they were teenagers and children of 19, 15 and 16 years of age. When they arrived in Malta two days later, they were thrown into a high-security prison wing for adults. The European border regime stole 18 years of their youth from the young men, their agency, and the ability to grow up at their own pace. When we met in late 2019 and early 2020 to decide on a collaborative campaign – the Free El Hiblu 3-campaign – sitting in a small café in the village of Hamrun, Malta, deciding to stand together whatever may come and however long it would take, we met three children. We decided to stay next to each other to demand justice and a fair trial for the three youngsters but also to build an infrastructure of safety and care. Today, we call each other family. And we’re happy to see, that the work of the El Hiblu 3 campaign has influenced many additional actors over the years who started to make it their personal mandate to stand against the injustice, Abdalla, Amara, and Kader are facing.

Actors, many of whom are locals, working outside of the legal and political fields, who came into contact with this story and feel appalled at the hypocrisy of their authorities stance..

“As Maltese people working within the Arts and Cultural Sector, the greatest tragedy is not just the criminalization of Abdalla, Amara, and Kader – it is the failure of the nation to uphold the fundamental values of solidarity and justice.”

We have seen too many people die in Maltese waters or be pushed back; the cries for help ignored, swallowed by the silence of bureaucracy. Malta, once a nation of seafarers, has turned its back on those in need, neglecting its duty to rescue, delaying urgent calls, and choosing indifference over humanity.

It is as if we have forgotten who we are. “Every Maltese family knows someone who has left – to the North Africa, UK, Australia, Canada, the Americas and elsewhere. We were and are migrants ourselves, seeking better futures beyond our shores. And yet, the Maltese government does everything in its power to block others from doing the same. Where is the empathy that should come from our own history? How can a people, shaped by movement, by colonization, by opportunity for a better life, now choose to deny others the same chance at survival and life.”

Now, with the sixth anniversary of the El Hiblu 3 approaching, we will again stand close together in solidarity and uplift our voices to say loud and clear “Free the El Hiblu 3. Preventing a push-back to Libya is not a crime”.

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