The arrest of three officials of a German aid ship that disembarked 37 Africans on the Sicilian coast provoked an outcry in Italy and Germany today, with politicians and aid groups saying the move violated humanitarian principles.

The case of 37 African immigrants who waited weeks on a ship in the Mediterranean in hopes of asylum in Europe took a strange turn after Italian authorities finally admitted them, then arrested two relief workers, and indicated some immigrants lied about coming from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.

An aid ship that has been wandering the Mediterranean for three weeks with African asylum seekers aboard, was granted permission to dock in Sicily today.

A German aid ship which has sailed southern Mediterranean waters for three weeks in search of a haven for its passengers, including 36 Sudanese seeking asylum, was blocked by Italian coast guard motorboats from docking at a Sicilian port.