Court sentences two in Libya tragedy case

Says human traffickers do not deserve any concessions

RAWALPINDI:

A trial court in the garrison city on Saturday convicted two individuals for human trafficking, sentencing them to 17 years in prison and imposing a fine of Rs6.5 million on each of them. Both human traffickers were partially responsible for the April 2023 Libya boat tragedy.

In his verdict, Rawalpindi’s Special Judge Central Amjad Ali Shah declared that the accused do not deserve any concessions as they are hardened criminals and professional human traffickers who have been exploiting vulnerable people and extorting their life savings.

As soon as the court pronounced its verdict, the police arrested the human smugglers, who were out on bail, and sent them to jail.

Earlier, the lawyer for one of the families of the Libya boat tragedy victims, Advocate Muhammad Afzal Jadoon, stated that Abdul Razzaq, a resident of Girja, Rawalpindi, had been deceived by the two convicts.

They promised jobs for his son, Usman Razzaq, and nephew, Shakeel, and took Rs6.5 million, claiming they would send them to Italy. They took the two from Rawalpindi to Libya, where the convicts disappeared.

They advised the two unfortunate young men to travel to Italy by boat through a tout, took more money, and put them on a boat. However, the boat capsized and sank within Libyan waters, and both young men, along with other passengers, lost their lives. Their bodies were never found.

The two convicts returned to Rawalpindi. During the inquiry, the FIA presented irrefutable evidence, showing millions of rupees in the convicts’ accounts and evidence from their phones proving their involvement in human trafficking.

Meanwhile, the third accused, Doran Khan, was acquitted due to a lack of evidence. The FIA’s Passport Anti-Human Trafficking Cell had registered the case on June 26, 2023.

On April 25, 2023, two migrant boats bound for Europe capsized off the coast of western Libya, claiming at least 57 lives, including those of Pakistanis.

One survivor, Bassam Mahmoud from Egypt, had told Reuters that there were about 80 passengers on one of the boats that set off for Europe at around 2 am on April 25, 2023. There was an argument as the boat was sinking but the man in charge refused to stop, he said.

“We kept fighting until someone caught up with us. The scene was horrific, and some died (in the water) in front of me,” he said. Eleven bodies, including that of a child, were recovered off Qarabulli in eastern Tripoli, said coast guard officer Fathi al-Zayani.