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| Smuggler's victims say police have arrested innocent refugee | Smuggler's victims say police have arrested innocent refugee |
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| Italian and British police face mounting accusations that they confused a notorious people smuggler with an innocent refugee, after some of the smuggler’s former victims said they did not recognise the suspect extradited to Rome and paraded before the media. | Italian and British police face mounting accusations that they confused a notorious people smuggler with an innocent refugee, after some of the smuggler’s former victims said they did not recognise the suspect extradited to Rome and paraded before the media. |
| The accusations followed claims from the family, housemates and neighbours of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe that the 29-year-old had been mistaken for Medhanie Yehdego Mered, a 35-year-old smuggling kingpin supposedly deported from Sudan on Wednesday. Berhe, they say, was in fact a jobless refugee with no involvement in the smuggling business. | |
| The accusations create huge potential embarrassment for both the Italian authorities, who previously claimed to have seized “the boss of one of the most important criminal groups operating in central Africa and Libya”, and Britain’s National Crime Agency, which was involved in the Mered investigationand hailed the capture of “one of the world’s most wanted people smugglers”. | The accusations create huge potential embarrassment for both the Italian authorities, who previously claimed to have seized “the boss of one of the most important criminal groups operating in central Africa and Libya”, and Britain’s National Crime Agency, which was involved in the Mered investigationand hailed the capture of “one of the world’s most wanted people smugglers”. |
| Mered is a a well-known Eritrean people smuggler, based in Sudan and Libya, who has boasted of sending at least 13,000 people from Khartoum to Europe, via Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. Italy said he had been seized in Khartoum in late May and subsequently deported to Rome. | Mered is a a well-known Eritrean people smuggler, based in Sudan and Libya, who has boasted of sending at least 13,000 people from Khartoum to Europe, via Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. Italy said he had been seized in Khartoum in late May and subsequently deported to Rome. |
| But on Thursday, two men who said they were his former victims told the Guardian they did not recognise him from the images distributed by the Italian government. | But on Thursday, two men who said they were his former victims told the Guardian they did not recognise him from the images distributed by the Italian government. |
| “I know [Mered] very well, I can recognise him very well,” said Anbes Yemane, a 23-year-old Eritrean student who said he had been smuggled to Italy by Mered in December 2013. “That wasn’t him.” | “I know [Mered] very well, I can recognise him very well,” said Anbes Yemane, a 23-year-old Eritrean student who said he had been smuggled to Italy by Mered in December 2013. “That wasn’t him.” |
| Yemane remembered being kept in squalid, cramped conditions by Mered before departure, with he and his fellow passengers being treated more like cattle than customers. “The conditions were very bad, and I was threatened by [Mered] personally. He used to threaten us with a gun. [But] from the picture that I saw from the Italians, that wasn’t [Mered].” | Yemane remembered being kept in squalid, cramped conditions by Mered before departure, with he and his fellow passengers being treated more like cattle than customers. “The conditions were very bad, and I was threatened by [Mered] personally. He used to threaten us with a gun. [But] from the picture that I saw from the Italians, that wasn’t [Mered].” |
| A second former customer, who asked not to be named specifically because he believed Mered was still at large in Sudan and therefore represented a threat to his relatives in Khartoum, said: “The person who was captured by the Italians is not the person who smuggled me. I know [Mered] very well – and I’ve known him since 2011, and it would be very easy for me to recognise him. This isn’t the smuggler. | A second former customer, who asked not to be named specifically because he believed Mered was still at large in Sudan and therefore represented a threat to his relatives in Khartoum, said: “The person who was captured by the Italians is not the person who smuggled me. I know [Mered] very well – and I’ve known him since 2011, and it would be very easy for me to recognise him. This isn’t the smuggler. |
| “He is very dangerous and very powerful, and as I have relatives still in Sudan, he may retaliate if he knows that I am the one giving this information.” | “He is very dangerous and very powerful, and as I have relatives still in Sudan, he may retaliate if he knows that I am the one giving this information.” |
| Meanwhile, in Sudan, Norway and Italy, members of Berhe’s family maintained that it was their young relative, known to some friends by his ancestral name of Kidane, who had been confused for Mered. He had been randomly arrested by the Sudanese police in Khartoum in late May and then disappeared. Berhe’s sister and flatmate, Seghen, claimed she had no idea where he was until he suddenly appeared handcuffed to Italian police officers in Rome on Wednesday. | Meanwhile, in Sudan, Norway and Italy, members of Berhe’s family maintained that it was their young relative, known to some friends by his ancestral name of Kidane, who had been confused for Mered. He had been randomly arrested by the Sudanese police in Khartoum in late May and then disappeared. Berhe’s sister and flatmate, Seghen, claimed she had no idea where he was until he suddenly appeared handcuffed to Italian police officers in Rome on Wednesday. |
| “That’s my brother, and he’s innocent,” said Seghen, 30, after being presented with a photograph of the arrested man. “I haven’t heard from him for two weeks until yesterday in the news. I have been searching for him in prisons in Khartoum, but they [said] there is no man [with] that name.” | “That’s my brother, and he’s innocent,” said Seghen, 30, after being presented with a photograph of the arrested man. “I haven’t heard from him for two weeks until yesterday in the news. I have been searching for him in prisons in Khartoum, but they [said] there is no man [with] that name.” |
| Related: Eritrea has committed widespread crimes against humanity, says UN | Related: Eritrea has committed widespread crimes against humanity, says UN |
| Berhe escaped Eritrea in October 2014, Seghen said, one of thousands of Eritreans to flee a government that the UN accused this week of committing crimes against humanity on its population. | Berhe escaped Eritrea in October 2014, Seghen said, one of thousands of Eritreans to flee a government that the UN accused this week of committing crimes against humanity on its population. |
| He allegedly went first to Hitsats refugee camp in Ethiopia, although the UN refugee agency, which runs the camp, would not confirm this detail publicly out of concern for the privacy of refugees. Then in March 2015 he allegedly moved to Khartoum to be closer to family members such as Seghen – long after Mered is alleged to have begun his smuggling business. | He allegedly went first to Hitsats refugee camp in Ethiopia, although the UN refugee agency, which runs the camp, would not confirm this detail publicly out of concern for the privacy of refugees. Then in March 2015 he allegedly moved to Khartoum to be closer to family members such as Seghen – long after Mered is alleged to have begun his smuggling business. |
| “[Berhe] is not a smuggler at all,” said Seghen. “He hasn’t been working at anything … My brother and sister support him.” | “[Berhe] is not a smuggler at all,” said Seghen. “He hasn’t been working at anything … My brother and sister support him.” |
| Another of Berhe’s sisters, Hewit, said: “They thought he was a smuggler just because he had one of the same names as Mered. Medhanie is much younger than Mered and he doesn’t even speak Arabic.” | Another of Berhe’s sisters, Hewit, said: “They thought he was a smuggler just because he had one of the same names as Mered. Medhanie is much younger than Mered and he doesn’t even speak Arabic.” |
| Seghen and her family had enlisted the help of Sicilian lawyer Michele Calantropo, who flew to Rome on Thursday to attend the accused’s first interrogations on Friday morning. | Seghen and her family had enlisted the help of Sicilian lawyer Michele Calantropo, who flew to Rome on Thursday to attend the accused’s first interrogations on Friday morning. |
| Calantropo faces the unusual situation of representing clients who believe the defendant is a different man from the one the prosecutors think has been arrested. “There are no elements at the moment to confirm the identity of the man arrested in Sudan and extradited to Italy,” he said shortly before leaving Sicily. | Calantropo faces the unusual situation of representing clients who believe the defendant is a different man from the one the prosecutors think has been arrested. “There are no elements at the moment to confirm the identity of the man arrested in Sudan and extradited to Italy,” he said shortly before leaving Sicily. |
| Francesco Lo Voi, the Italian chief prosecutor, conceded the situation was unusual but would not comment further. “We are leading the appropriate investigations about this unusual situation,” he told the Guardian. “At the moment all we can say is that the report of the extradited person, his arrest and his extradition in Italy were disclosed in an official document from the [UK] National Crime Agency, and by Interpol and the Sudanese authorities. We’ll have more details tomorrow.” | Francesco Lo Voi, the Italian chief prosecutor, conceded the situation was unusual but would not comment further. “We are leading the appropriate investigations about this unusual situation,” he told the Guardian. “At the moment all we can say is that the report of the extradited person, his arrest and his extradition in Italy were disclosed in an official document from the [UK] National Crime Agency, and by Interpol and the Sudanese authorities. We’ll have more details tomorrow.” |
| The NCA did not update an earlier statement saying that it was “confident in its intelligence gathering process”. | The NCA did not update an earlier statement saying that it was “confident in its intelligence gathering process”. |
| On Thursday night, its website still maintained the agency had helped achieve the arrest of “one of the world’s most wanted people smugglers”, in a post that seemed to have confused Mered’s first name for his last name. | On Thursday night, its website still maintained the agency had helped achieve the arrest of “one of the world’s most wanted people smugglers”, in a post that seemed to have confused Mered’s first name for his last name. |
| Additional reporting by Medhane Paulos | Additional reporting by Medhane Paulos |