Italy’s arrest of aid ship crew sparks outrage

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 yesterday, with politicians and aid groups saying the move violated humanitarian principles.

The ship run by Cap Anamur, a German aid agency, had been stranded at sea since June 20. After weeks of debate over who should take them in, the ship received permission to dock in Sicily, but Italian authorities immediately made the arrests.

Authorities also said some immigrants lied about coming from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, which the UN has described as suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Police said “from the first checks it has actually emerged they are not Sudanese, but on the contrary appear to be Ghanaian and Nigerian.”