The 12 migrants who were transferred back to Italy from Albania after a decision taken by the special immigration unit of Rome’s tribunal on October 18 were "scared and in shock" when they reached the Puglia port city of Bari.
After a five-hour long crossing from Albania to Bari on board a coast guard vessel, the 12 migrants were taken on Saturday (October 19) to the hosting centre for asylum seekers.
The group had been detained between Wednesday and Friday last week at a newly opened Italian-run hosting and repatriation center in the Albanian city of Gjader.
Well-informed sources told ANSA that they appeared to be "scared and in shock". The migrants even feared that anything they said to each other could put their permanence in Italy at risk.
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New asylum requests by migrants
A new phase has opened for the migrants after the decision on October 18 taken by the special immigration unit of Rome’s tribunal not to validate their detention at a hosting and repatriation center in Albania.
The migrants, including seven citizens of Bangladesh and five of Egypt, had already been denied an asylum request the previous day under an accelerated procedure. They now have 14 days to appeal the decision. If the requests will be presented, as expected, the migrants will maintain the status of ‘asylum seekers’ before a final decision is taken by Italian authorities which will require time.
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The issue of countries defined as ‘not safe’
Meanwhile the government on Monday, October 21, approved a new decree on the issue of ‘unsafe countries’ aimed at overcoming some of the blocks that a court ruling put in the way of its Albania plan. Judges in Rome had ruled that Egypt and Bangladesh were unsafe for return, according to international case law, in particular a decision of the European Court of Justice on October 4.
The new decree shortened the list of safe countries to 19 from the previous 22, excluding Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria. The government measure could aim to anticipate upcoming EU regulations on border procedures provided for by the European pact on migration.
The new regulations could in fact redesign the list of third countries considered as ‘safe’, excluding from the right to asylum migrants coming from specific non-EU countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt.
However, Europe has not issued such rules yet. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has insisted on the validity of the system of accelerated procedures regarding asylum applications and repatriations to "do in a month what would otherwise require three years".