Sara Mardini, who gained international fame for helping pull a boat full of Syrian refugees to shore alongside sister and 2016 Olympian Yusra Mardini, was arrested by Greek authorities on Tuesday, August 28th, for aiding refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Mardini was arrested alongside Greek national Nassos Karakitsos and Irish volunteer Seán Binder, all three of whom are volunteers of Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI), a Greek non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO). Mardini is currently being held in a prison outside of Athens.
Irish national Seán Binder faces up to 20 years in Greek prison on charges of human trafficking, espionage, money laundering, and being a member of a criminal organization. Mardini is being charged with the same crimes, though it is not clear whether Greek authorities will seek the same sentence. Binder, who is a search and rescue first responder with ERCI, states in his LinkedIn profile that he assists in search and rescue operations on Lesbos and that he provides aide to asylum-seekers arriving to the EU.
In all, a total of 30 Greek and foreign nationals were arrested by Greek authorities on August 21st for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization directly responsible for aiding migrant smugglers for financial gain. Greek authorities further accuse Mardini and the ECRI of breaching immigration laws, money laundering, espionage, and forgery.
A Greek lawyer representing German-based Mardini, who currently studies on scholarship at Bard College in Berlin, maintains that the Syrian expat was only doing volunteer work on Lesbos for the ERCI. Contrarily, Greek authorities allege that members of the ERCI have been in contact with migrants on social media in an effort to “actively assist” their illegal entry into Greece since 2015.
A Greek police statement described the ERCI and its members actions as: “The activities of an organised criminal network that systematically facilitated the illegal entry of foreigners were fully exposed.”
It has also been alleged that Mardini and other members of the ERCI monitored Greek Coastguard and EU border agency Frontex radio traffic in an effort to keep track of migrants’ movements. Sven Spannekrebs, the German swim coach to both Mardini sisters, doubts the claim that Mardini and co. illegally listened in on radio conversations, stating that “[the] channels that the (ERCI) radios had access to are open to anyone to listen,” despite that Frontex–the European Border and Coast Guard Agency–and the Greek Coastguard use encrypted channels.
Florian Becker, a managing director of Bard College in Berlin, said: “We are in close contact with Sara’s legal counsel and these clearly unsubstantiated charges seem more about halting the operations of the NGO in question than about any actions of Sara or her fellow volunteer,” reports The Telegraph.
Since 2015 Lesbos has become a hub for migrants fleeing the Middle East and Syria in particular. At present, Lesbos has upwards of 10,000 refugees awaiting asylum in Greece and other European countries.
How sad that the Orange’s ideas of wall is contagious around the world.
Blame it on Chinese. This idea of natural or artificial barriers is thousands years old. BTW, do you have a fence around your backyard? Or you are living in the gated community so no individual fences are needed and there is no need to have doors of your home locked.
Are the rich middle eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar accepting refugees?
Is Israel accepting refugees? They seem to be doing a great job displacing Palestinian families
Wondered how long it would take!
Jordan, like it always does, is stepping up and helping above its weight class without sufficient outside support from the rest of the world.
Shame their conscience doesn’t extend to Yemeni’s whom they have been bombing with Saudi Arabia.
No reason to put this article at all on swim swam, as it has practically nothing to do with swimming. I am originally Greek so I know a lot about the situation there. I have very few if anything positive to say about the administration headed by Alexi Tsipras but this one of the few things they got right. Ask any local and they will tell u about how a great historical island like lesbos has become an unlivable disaster!
I wonder how unlivable Lesbos is compared to places like Syria and Libya…
a different kind but unlivable nonetheless
Between the time the island was annexed back to Greece from the ottomans and until very recently very much very livable and majestic like most of the Greek isles that is why tourists flock to them ever summer. So for the island to be like this it is unlivable for the natives!
The only reason it was relevant was that a swimmer was involved.
Climate refuges.? Wow!
As a devils advocate to previous commentators, there have been numerous reports or criminal gangs and humanutarian groups working together in the Eastern Med to shuttle refugees safely across to Europe. It may well be that these people had been linked to one of the many criminal gangs taking advantage of refugees.
The line “aiding migrant smugglers” jumps out at me. Not all those assisting refugees are doing it for humanitarian reasons, and should humanitarian workers get mixed up with them, they will be view as part of the said gang.
Like mexican “Coyote” – an underground criminal enterprise that smuggles men, women and children into the United States for hard cash. There were many cases when they killed their clients after getting paid.
This is an established non-profit organization with a public profile and long track record. Your argument – as “devil’s adcocate,” or whatever – is deeply immoral. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if some of the refugees started their journey in the hands of smugglers. If a humanitarian then assists them, is the humanitarian “mixed up” with the smugglers? Are they culpable in the same way? This is the same depraved logic that led to prosecutions of a group that provided water for border-crossers in the American desert. I can’t tell whether the ECRI broke any laws in providing aid or assistance, but charging them as if they were the mafia is clearly against the spirit of the law. Or… Read more »
Famine in Yemen is probably worse. Not to trivialize this, which is super terrible, just saying this is the one that the US is following.
both are on the top list of Major crisis
Shame on Greece
You are probably know nothing about this case besides this article in Swimswam, but are so fast already to shame the entire nation.
I don’t think smuggling in migrants is wrong, I think not allowing migrants in is.
mi·grant
[ˈmīɡrənt]
NOUN
1. a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions.
2. an animal that migrates.
ADJECTIVE
tending to migrate or having migrated.
“migrant birds”
Thanks for providing the definition for potentially confused people
Let em stay at your house
I think that human race will survive. Can you imagine the territory of United States being covered by 2 miles high ice shield just 10 thousand years ago? It is so close. Pyramids of Giza are 5 thousand years old.
Moral norms is completely different issue and there will be never a consensus.
@ STEVE NOLAN: I don’t know what to say. I really don’t. But even if I have something I won’t bring it here in Swimswam.
The notion of “the end of the world” is one of the ancient and the strongest belief in the history of humankind. I don’t know why.
Okay, can you pay their plane ticket to America? I’m doing something for you, only fair you do something for me.
We’ll see what facts emerge, but on the surface, these charges are an obscenity – conflating a humanitarian organization with an organized crime syndicate. Unfortunately it seems that in many countries, “anything goes” when it comes to dissuading or blocking refugees.
Agreed. Assisting an organization whose goal is strictly humanitarian becomes criminal? This is how fascism starts.
Well put. Amen.
Its a complex problem. Mainly countries should worked on making things better at home for these people. About 10 percent get into the west and the other 90 percent remain at home.