Court Convicts Two in Libya Tragedy Case

RAWALPINDI:

A magistrate court in the garrison town on Saturday convicted two individuals for human trafficking, sentencing them to 17 years in prison and fined Rs 6.5 million each. The two human traffickers were partly responsible for the boat tragedy in Libya in April 2023.

In his verdict, Rawalpindi Special Judge Central Amjad Ali Shah said the accused did not deserve any concession as they are hardened criminals and professional human traffickers who exploit vulnerable people and extort their savings.

As soon as the court delivered its verdict, the police arrested the smugglers, who were out on bail, and sent them to prison.

Earlier, the lawyer of one of the families of the victims of the Libya boat tragedy, advocate Muhammad Afzal Jadoon, said that Abdul Razzaq, a resident of Girja, Rawalpindi, was deceived by the two convicts.

They promised jobs to his son, Usman Razzaq, and his nephew, Shakeel, and took 6.5 million rupees, saying they would send them to Italy. They took the two men from Rawalpindi to Libya, where the convicts disappeared.

They advised the two unfortunate young people to go to Italy by boat, through a tout, took some money and put them on a boat. However, the boat capsized and sank in Libyan waters, and the two young men, along with other passengers, lost their lives. Their bodies were never found.

The two convicts returned to Rawalpindi. During the investigation, the FIA ​​presented irrefutable evidence, showing millions of rupees in the accounts of the convicts and evidence from their phones proving their involvement in human trafficking.

Meanwhile, the third accused, Doran Khan, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The FIA ​​anti-passport trafficking cell had registered the case on June 26, 2023.

On April 25, 2023, two Europe-bound migrant boats capsized off the western coast of Libya, killing at least 57 people, including Pakistanis.

A survivor, Bassam Mahmoud, from Egypt, had told Reuters there were about 80 passengers on one of the boats that had set off for Europe around 2 a.m. on April 25, 2023. There was an argument as the boat sank, but the man on board the charge refused to stop, he said.

“We continued to fight until someone caught up with us. The scene was horrible and some died (in the water) in front of me,” he said. Eleven bodies, including that of a child, were found off Qarabulli, east of Tripoli, said coastguard officer Fathi al-Zayani.