Egyptian court jails 56 over migrant boat shipwreck

An Egyptian court sentenced 56 people to prison on Sunday over the capsizing of a migrant boat that left over 200 people dead last year.

The defendants were sentenced to at least seven years in jail, judicial sources said, with some sentences extending to 13 or 14 years. One woman was acquitted.

The boat capsized off the Mediterranean coast on 21 September and rescue workers and fishermen were able to rescue at least 169 people, but at least 202 people died. It was one of deadliest disasters to hit migrants attempting the perilous sea journey from Africa to Europe.

Charges against the 57 included causing the accidental death of 202 passengers, not using sufficient rescue equipment, endangering lives, receiving money from the victims, hiding suspects from authorities, and using a vessel without a licence.

The boat sank in the Mediterranean off Burg Rashid, a village in Egypt's northern Beheira province where the sea and the Nile meet. It had been carrying Egyptian, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali migrants and was believed to be heading for Italy.

A record 5,000 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean last year, aid agencies have said. In the worst known incident, around 500 African migrants and their children died when a fishing boat capsized off Egypt's coast in April.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks in early March with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on stemming illegal migration to her country.

Turmoil exploited by people smugglers since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi has made Libya, which neighbours Egypt and Tunisia, the main gateway for African migrants seeking to make dangerous Mediterranean crossings.

Merkel, who faces elections in September, has been under intense pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Germany, which has taken in over one million migrants since 2015.

"There are routes for illegal immigration from Libya to Germany. We have a lot of mutual concern and interest in putting an end to this," she said at a press conference with Sisi.

"The question now is how to stop human trafficking and prevent the opening of a new route for escaping to Europe through Egypt," she said.

She added that Germany would continue providing technical support for Egypt to monitor its long border with Libya.

Merkel has urged the North African states to step up border controls and speed up repatriations of migrants whose asylum applications are rejected.