Reporting by Faris Al Rifai; Translation by Yusra Ahmed
(Zaman Al Wasl)- 12 Syrians have been detained for two months in a refugees’ detention centre in Malta without clear reasons or any attempt to sort their matters out.
The detained Syrians appealed to humanitarian agencies and media to intervene and stop their suffering and the Maltese authority’s violations.
“All we want is to know our legal position, and explanation for keeping us arrested by the Maltese police”, according to statement posted on Facebook by the detained Syrians.
Zaman al-Wasl contacted one of the detained men, who identified himself as “Steve al-Dimashqi”, he said that the Maltese Authority questioned them, took their fingerprints and checked Identities. When they refused to obey their dictations and instructions, the Maltese threatened of returning them to Syria.
Steve said that they were not given any idea about their legal situation, and every official body referred them to another body without getting any clear answer.
Al-Dimashqi said that they had done all possible peaceful procedures like sit-in, protests, but nothing worked, beside they were threatened that any act they did might badly affect their situation.
In regard to treatment, Steve said that food was bad, no medical care, and guards treated them really badly.
The 12 Syrian men were arrested by the Maltese Authority in the sea, during their trip from Egypt to Italy to claim asylum. They were told that Maltese Authority would not be able to help them because they had no documents to prove their identity, as all their documents lost in sea.
The number of Syrians illegally reached Europe has significantly jumped after the beginning of the Syrian revolution and the armed conflict more than three years ago, more than 25 Thousand Syrians reached Europe last years.
Hundreds of Syrians - men, women and children- died during their smuggling trip via the Mediterranean Sea sailing on overcrowded old vessels.
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