Cyprus prison against Syrian man died in overload immigration boat after death of a 3-year-old girl

Nicosia, Cyprus – A court in Cyprus sentenced Syrian nationals to three years in prison after finding him dead due to negligence of a 3-year-old girl in dehydration, which caused six days of dehydration, and the vessel was not in prison. Enough food and water supply was carried out for six days. .

The Attorney General's Office said Friday that the Famagusta Criminal Court ruled that the 48-year-old captain failed to ensure the safety of 60 Syrian immigrants on small wooden crafts without navigation aids or appropriate communications equipment.

According to the facts of the case, the captain told the passengers at some point during the journey to throw any remaining water bottles on the boat to eliminate any signs of the ship's departure from Lebanon.

The ship set sail on January 18, 2024, but the engine malfunctioned wandered in the eastern Mediterranean for nearly a week, with many desperate passengers starting to drink sea water and their own urine to relieve their thirst.

After finding the ship, the Cypriot authorities airlifted the little girl who accompanied her mother to the hospital, but medical staff were unable to save her.

The number of people arriving in Cyprus as immigrants has dropped sharply over the past three years after the EU government has taken a series of gathering measures. Authorities say the country's ability to host and accommodate thousands of new asylum seekers is overwhelmed.

According to recent government data, immigration has reached racially divided Cyprus (mainly through northern Turkey, Turkey, where government authorities cannot exercise jurisdiction – from 17,278 in 2022 to 6,102 in 2024.

Similarly, asylum applications fell from a record 21,565 to 6,769 during the same period, while repatriation increased from 7,700 to nearly 11,000.

In view of the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria in the second half of last year, Cyprus Deputy Minister Nicholas Ioannides said about 40 Syrian nationals demanded their asylum application to be withdrawn or their revocation International status of protection. Ioannides said about 755 Syrians have returned to their hometowns.

But Cyprus has been appointed to violate the human rights of migrants at sea. Last October, the Supreme Court of Human Rights ruled that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum after they were reserved, and more than twenty other people were on board at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.