The NGO ship Open Arms, with 57 migrants aboard, is facing a 20-day administrative detention order in Crotone, Calabria, after allegedly obstructing a Libyan patrol boat during a rescue operation.

The charge accuses Open Arms of ignoring directives from the National Coordination Center for Maritime Rescue. The penalty could be as high as €10,000 according to the Piantedosi decree, which regulates NGO interventions.

Following three separate rescue operations, the ship was initially destined for Brindisi, but it went to Crotone due to maritime weather conditions. It arrived in Crotone on Saturday, January 20. Verification procedures by the State Police, Coast Guard, and Finance Guard led to the detention order following the rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

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The authorities questioned the ship's captain and crew for six hours in Crotone, addressing violations of the Piantedosi decree. Italian authorities, in particular, received a notice from Libya stating that Open Arms got in the way of one of their patrol boats during a rescue operation of 45 persons who were on a boat in Libyan SAR (Search and Rescue) waters, an operation banned by the national center for sea rescue. The 45 persons were taken by the Libyan naval unit.

Last December, the ship Humanity 1, a German NGO, was subjected to institutional detention in the port of Crotone over alleged violations of the Piantedosi decree.

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Open Arms, 'The procedure is completely uncalled for'

The Spanish NGO Open Arms contested the charges, asserting compliance with all instructions from the Maritime Coordination Center in Rome. "This procedure is completely uncalled for, because the three rescue operations were coordinated by Italian authorities, and we followed all the indications received by the Maritime Coordination Center," Open Arms said in a statement.

Oscar Camps, the NGO's founder, criticized the lack of a clear legal framework for humanitarian ships. "The rule of law at sea was suspended, humanitarian ships operate without a clear legal framework, it is therefore, impossible to guarantee safety and rights to those who try to cross the sea in a state of vulnerability," Camps said in a video posted on social media.