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Italy investigates call wiretapping linked to migration reporting Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Angelo Carconi/EPA Italy’s justice minister is to send inspectors to Sicily following reports that prosecutors wiretapped hundreds of phone conversations involving at least 15 journalists reporting on migration in the central Mediterranean. The Italian newspaper Domani revealed on Friday that magistrates in Trapani, who were investigating sea rescue NGOs and charities for alleged complicity in people smuggling, had wiretapped reporters’ phone...

Neither Mediterranea Saving Humans nor Maersk has denied the €125,000 ($151,000/£108,000) payment was made to the NGO in late November. The Mare Jonio had transferred 27 migrants from the Danish company’s vessel on September 11th. Both parties have claimed that the money was a donation made to cover the ship’s costs and its crew, who later took the migrants to Italy. Italian prosecutors, meanwhile, have claimed both the NGO and Maersk had negotiated a cash payment and that the NGO had originally demanded as much as €275,000 ($331,000/£237,000). “After this investigation,” Cas...

US JOURNALIST Naomi Klein and philosopher Cornel West joined European human rights activists and academics today in their call today to help raise funds for a refugee rescue charity under legal attack in Italy. The public prosecutor’s office in the Sicilian region of Ragusa brought charges against Mediterranea: Saving Humans earlier this month, accusing the NGO of “facilitating illegal immigration.” The charges relate to an incident involving Mediterranea’s rescue ship Mare Jonio and a commercial vessel in the Mediterranean Sea last summer. The Etienne, a container ship operated by Da...

5 Mar 2021 The Italian migrant transport NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans has been accused of taking €125,000 to transport illegal aliens, with new claims alleging the group initially asked for as much as €270,000. The claims revolve around a ship belonging to the Danish company Maersk which picked up 27 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea in August of last year. The NGO is accused of negotiating a payment to transfer the migrants to its transport vessel, the Mare Jonio, weeks later, on September 11th. In November, Maersk reportedly transferred €125,000 ($151, 000/£108,000) to Idra Socia...

Med: Italy Steps up Criminalisation of the Civil Fleet as Dozens Die at Sea Format The crack down on the civil fleet by Italian authorities has intensified on several fronts over the course of the past two weeks. Criminal investigations were opened against parties involved in the rescue of 27 survivors in August 2020 that was followed by the longest stand-off in recent European maritime history. Following the closure of investigations related to the Iuventa rescue ship, Italian authorities have charged 21 individuals and 3 organisations of aiding and abetting illegal immigration. The Sea Watc...