Paris Court Convicts Six Traffickers Over Tragic English Channel Migrant Drowning

A Paris court on Wednesday found six men from Iraq and Afghanistan guilty of manslaughter over the drowning of 31 migrants on an overcrowded dinghy five years ago in the English Channel. Seven other men, including a Pakistani national, were found guilty of lesser smuggling charges, including facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy. Two defendants, who had cut ties with smugglers before their arrest, were granted the authorisation to serve their sentence at home with electronic tags.

Lawyer Emmanuel Daoud, who represented one of the victims' family members, told The National he was “satisfied” with the court's efforts at determining the involvement and responsibility of each defendant in the largest single drowning incident in the Channel. “If you traffic in human distress and vulnerability, if you deliberately take the risk of endangering people's lives by putting them in a makeshift boat, you cannot – the next day or the day after – claim that no one is responsible,” Mr Daoud said.

The court sentenced several of the defendants to pay €9,000 ($10,200) compensation to his client and her two children. Their father, who was from Ethiopia, drowned the night the dinghy capsized in November 2021. The victims were mainly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians, an Egyptian, a Somali national, an Iranian Kurd and a Vietnamese national. Twenty-seven victims were recovered, while at least four others were never found. The only survivors were two men.

“No prison sentence will bring back a husband or a father, but at least the court is saying that this death is not anonymous and has not been forgotten. Those responsible must be held accountable,” Mr Daoud said. The trial demonstrated that Iraqi and Afghan smuggling networks worked together in the north of France to send migrants to the UK. In a press statement, the court said the disaster resulted in “multiple material and human failures” and had been “brought about by individuals driven by the lure of profit and a disregard for human life”.

Sentences for the six men found guilty of manslaughter ranged from six to 10 years in prison. For others, sentences ranged from six months suspended to four years in prison. One man was found not guilty. The heaviest sentence, of 10 years in prison, was handed to an Afghan national on the run, Obaidullah Maroofkhel, 29. Harem Ahmad Abwbaker, 36, born in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Ranya, was escorted in handcuffs after he was sentenced to eight years in prison. Lawyer Souleyman Rakrouki said his client, Safi Mujahidullah, 36, received a six-year sentence.

During the trial, relatives of some victims described the anguish provoked by the disaster, with several travelling from Iraqi Kurdish regions to attend in person. Zana Mamand Muhammad, whose brother Twana was never found after the disaster, told the court about the constant pain and uncertainty he continues to live with.