10 November 2017
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Forum Tunisienne des Droits Economiques et Sociaux (FTDES) - 06/11/2017:
"40 Tunisian citizens are freed every day from the Lampedusa detention centre: Italy puts an end to illegal detention.
Now it's happening in the detention centre of Caltanissetta
A few days after the complaint filed by ARCI and FTDES, Italy has started releasing the Tunisian detainees illegally held in the Lampedusa Hotspot. Mr. A. explained that 40 of them are transferred every day by ferry from the island to Agrigento [on the Sicilian mainland] and left to their fate without any information or guidance as to the services in the territory. Nobody has explained the asylum application process to them. Nobody has translated nor allowed them the time to understand the paper they are forced to sign in order to leave the centre: is it an expulsion order? A laissez-passer document? Nobody has been given a copy of this document.
Today, ARCI and FTDES heard reports that the same violation of national and international conventions is taking place in the detention centre in Caltanissetta. This morning, Mr. H. told us that he had been held in the centre for 11 days without ever appearing before a judge responsible for authorising his detention. 70 other Tunisian citizens are in the same situation as his. Every Monday and Thursday, the Italian government carries out some mass expulsions to repatriate dozens of Tunisians without giving them the possibility to have access to asylum application procedures. Today, on Monday, Mr. H. said that there weren't any repatriations due to the Sicilian regional elections. This is why we ask:
- That the migrants illegally detained in the Caltanissetta detention centre be immediately released.
- That all the migrants held in the detention centres of Lampedusa and Caltanissetta be informed of their rights, in a language they understand.
- That Italy put an end to its illegal procedures for mass expulsions.
- That Italy publish the convention on expulsions signed with the Tunisian government."
See also: Account of a serious violation of the law in the hotspot in Lampedusa (Statewatch News)
ECHR rules agains Greece on mysterious wiretap scandal
Account of a serious violation of the law in the hotspot in Lampedusa
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