The President of the Judicial court in Paris listed the charges one by one to a room full of journalists and deserted by the main defendants. Six men were convicted of "involuntary homicide" on Wednesday (September 30) on the last day of the trial for the deadliest small-boat Channel crossing disaster in 2021. Their sentences ranged from six to 10 years in prison for their role in the deaths of 31 people including a 7-year-old girl when their inflatable boat sank in the early hours of November 24, 2021.  

"The unprecedented catastrophe is the consequence of numerous errors," said the court's president. The investigation shed light on "the trafficking of migrants which was very lucrative for its organizers," and "individuals driven by greed and contempt for human life," who continued their macabre business even after the shipwreck.

Two of those convicted were tried and sentenced in absentia, because they are "on the run," including the leader of the Afghan ring, Obaidullah Maroofkhel, who was sentenced to 10 years. Three other defendants, who appeared in the trial but were not held in pre-trial detention, chose not to attend for the verdict. Among them, Mujahidsullah Safi, a 36-year-old Afghan described during the trial as having played the role of "negotiator," was sentenced to six years in prison. Hossain Fatahi, a 29-year-old Iranian who acted as an intermediary between the Iraqi Kurd and Afghan smuggling networks involved in the drama, was sentenced to seven years. 

Absent defendants

The only defendant found guilty of involuntary homicide and present during the judgement although not in pre-trial detention was Harem Ahmad Abwbaker. The 36-year-old Iraqi received the second-longest sentence: eight years in prison. Abwbaker, who migrated illegally to England shortly after the shipwreck in 2022 by hiding himself in a truck, contributed to "this criminal organization" to a "large extent," judged the court. During the trial, he presented himself as a mere migrant; but that was described as a "cynical" form of defense, according to the court's president, because it was "far from reality." 

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Beyond the varying degrees of responsibility for the drama, the president told the court that there was a point in common among the six men: "None of the six accused ensured the reliability of the vessel." The vessel was of bad quality and equipped with a faulty motor, she added. The migrants on that deadly crossing were provided with poor safety equipment, including life-vests filled with cotton which made some passengers wearing them drown even faster. "Most of the smugglers created the conditions that led to the death of these people," said the president.

Among the eight other men judged during the trial, the sentences ranged from six months suspended to four years in prison.

"We can be satisfied that the sentences were reduced. Yet they still aren’t adapted. My client isn’t responsible, he wasn’t there at the time of the shipwreck," said the lawyer Souleyman Rakrouki about his client Mujahidsullah Safi. The latter found migrants for crossings, negotiated tariffs for crossings and pocketed the money. "He reserves the right not to report to the police station."

Arrest warrants were issued for all the absent defendants during the trial, including Safi.

'A welcome first step' 

The court's decision is "a welcome first step which comes as a relief to the families of the victims that we represent," said the lawyer Matthieu Chirez, who represents 115 civil parties. "We will remain vigilant during the ongoing investigation over members of the Regional Surveillance and Rescue Operational Center (CROSS)."

A separate investigation is continuing into seven French military personnel. Five members at the Regional Surveillance and Rescue Operational Center (CROSS) and two sailors on board a patrol vessel have been under investigation since 2023 for allegedly failing to help a person in danger. 

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Despite dozens of distress calls made by drowning migrants that evening from November 23 to 24, 2021, neither the British nor French emergency services intervened that night. According to the conclusions of a British inquiry in February 2026, the French emergency services even ordered an oil tanker to pursue its navigation, though it could have possibly helped a vessel in distress. Members of the ship Le Flamant from the French navy are also the object of an investigation for allegedly failing to rescue the shipwrecked passengers.

These investigations could eventually lead to another trial, one "hoped for and firmly expected by all the victims," according to Chirez, who maintains that "justice must punish everyone who played a role in this tragedy."