"We chose to reassert the basic principle which today is not to be taken for granted: that dignity and human life come before any other consideration." With these words, Laura Marmorale, President of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, explained the decision to bring 10 rescued migrants from the Channel of Sicily directly to Trapani, Sicily, on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

By doing so, the ship defied the instructions of the Italian Ministry of Interior, which had designated Genoa as the port of safety. The Mediterranea instead docked in Trapani last Saturday night, where it disembarked 10 migrants -- Kurdish citizens from Iran and Iraq, as well as Egyptians and Syrians. Among them were three unaccompanied minors, aged 14, 15, and 16.

When the authorities assigned the port of Genoa to them as a safe port to dock, "at 2:45 am" between the night of Thursday and Friday, the ship Mediterranea Saving Humans was in the Channel of Sicily, near the island of Pantelleria.

The migrants were "already in poor condition due to the detention, violence and torture they had suffered in Libya," recounted Beppe Caccia, Head of Mission on board the ship.

"The Ministry of Interior wanted to force these ten persons to endure an additional three days of navigation (the time needed to reach the port of Genoa, 1,000 kilometers away), subjecting them all to additional suffering", something "inhumane and unacceptable", he added.

"With waves as high as three meters, we chose to go to the nearest port," he explained.

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NGO, 'We chose to reaffirm the values of dignity and human life'

"It is unacceptable to leave traumatized shipwrecked persons on board a ship, exposing them once again to a situation that reminds them of the hell they just lived", stated on Sunday Laura Marmorale, President of Mediterranea Saving Humans.

"It is like forcing a burn victim to remain in the flames. The cure begins with understanding, the ability to place yourself in the shoes of the other person. This is why we decided to dock in Trapani. We are aware of the consequences that this decision could bring in a context in which rescue operations are penalized and criminalized, while human smugglers and systematic human rights violations prosper without any consequence."

"The rescued individuals had been brutally attacked, beaten, and thrown to the sea, treated like waste objects to get rid of," underscored Marmorale.

"We cannot accept a vision of the world in which human beings are treated like merchandise. We said no to this inhumane logic, because what is inflicted today on those who are considered "human waste" tomorrow could hit all of us. We put a stop to this as we could," she added.

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Mediterranea ship held after ignoring landing port order

The ship Mediterranea was impounded by Italian authorities in the Sicilian port of Trapani on Monday.

The act of seizure was carried out under a decree issued by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi last year. The exact duration of the ship's detention is not yet known because, according to the NGO, this will be decided by the Prefect of Trapani.

The ship was detained with a measure signed by the police, the Guardia di Finanza, and the Coast Guard.

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The Party of the Italian Radicals announces "legal support to Mediterranea"

What took place on the ship Mediterranea "Is an act of civil disobedience, and simultaneously, of legality: the ship abided by the law of the seas and the Constitution, it did not abide by the bureaucratic cruelty of a government that uses suffering as a political deterrent," commented the Secretary of the Italian Radical Party, Filippo Blengino, announcing that the Party decided to provide the services of its legal team to the NGO's ship.

"We are ready to support new civil and human disobedience acts of the NGOs saving humans, until sea rescue will finally be recognized as a duty and not a crime."

The leader of the Italian Left Party (SI) and the Green Alliance and Left (AVS), Nicola Fratoianni, stated in support of Mediterranea on X that "this was an unmotivated and ferocious decision" on the part of the Government to impose "additional and useless days of sailing" to the NGO.

"For this reason", Frantoianni thanks the crew and staff of Mediterranea for "disobeying Italian authorities".

"These days, to disobey close-minded and uselessly cruel laws is a virtue", he concluded. The Regional Councilors of Tuscany, Monia Monni and Serena Spinelli, who in these years have dealt with numerous migrant arrivals at the ports, also applauded the choice of the ship Mediterranea:

"For direct experience in the ports of Livorno and Carrara, we saw what additional days and hours of sailing mean for people who have already been suffering. It is not just an additional issue, it is actually a form of torture inflicted upon those who only ask to be sheltered and cared for in a safe place", they stated.