Tunisia sentences five people for missing migrants

The five Tunisian defendants, two of whom are still on the run, were sentenced Thursday evening to prison terms ranging from four to ten years, said Lassad Horr, spokesperson for the Medenine court.

The incident sparked protests and a general strike in Zarzis. President Kais Saied then ordered an investigation to find out what happened.

The court spokesperson said Friday that a boat, two cars and a GPS device had been seized as part of the investigation.

Tunisia and neighboring Libya are major departure points for migrants attempting perilous sea crossings to Europe.

Every year, tens of thousands of migrants, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, attempt to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia, whose coast lies about 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

On May 19, the Tunisian National Guard said 23 people had been missing for two weeks off the coast of Nabeul in the northeast. On May 29, four more people went missing off the coast of Mahdia on the central coast, while 17 others were rescued.

More than 1,300 people died or went missing last year in shipwrecks off the North African country, according to the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, a non-governmental organization.

The International Organization for Migration said more than 27,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean over the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.

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