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A Paris court has convicted six people traffickers over the deaths of 31 migrants in the deadliest small-boat sinking ever recorded in the English Channel, handing down prison sentences of between six and 10 years at the conclusion of a four-week trial.
The defendants were found guilty of involuntary homicide for their roles in organising the crossing that ended in tragedy in the early hours of 24 November 2021. Seven other defendants received lighter sentences of up to four years, while one person was acquitted.
The boat sank after those on board managed to send distress calls to both French and British coastguards. None of the emergency appeals was enough to save the vessel. Only two men survived the disaster, which claimed the lives of men, women and children.
Among the dead was a seven-year-old child. The victims were predominantly Iraqi Kurds, but the group also included Afghans, Egyptians and Iranian Kurds, reflecting the diverse origins of people who attempt the perilous sea journey from northern France to England.
According to the charge sheet, the migrants had been launched from the French coast in a vessel that was "of poor quality, uncertified, unsuitable for navigation at sea, overloaded, and without correct life jackets". These conditions, prosecutors argued, made the disaster all but inevitable once the boat encountered difficulties in the Channel.
The trial established that the convicted men belonged to two distinct criminal networks — one Iraqi Kurdish and the other Afghan — that had joined forces to arrange the crossing and move migrants to the departure point. Investigators relied heavily on phone tracking to identify members of both organisations and piece together how the operation was assembled.
The court heard emotional testimony from relatives of the victims, several of whom travelled from Iraqi Kurdistan to attend the opening of proceedings in France. Their statements painted a picture of families who had tried and failed to stop their loved ones from making the journey.
Zana Marmand Muhammed told the court that his younger brother Twana had been determined to reach England to find work, citing what he described as a dangerous geopolitical situation at home. He said no one in the family had wanted Twana to leave, but that their efforts to dissuade him had come to nothing.
Nabi Mustafa Mina, whose 19-year-old son Zanyar died in the sinking, described how he had offered to help his son marry, to give him his house and to split his salary in two in a bid to persuade him to stay. He told the court his son had insisted he wanted a better life and would find a way, leaving him with no further arguments.
Families also recounted the mechanics of the journey, explaining how they had paid a deposit at a bank in Iraqi Kurdistan and then tracked their relatives' progress through Turkey, Italy and finally France. In one of the final messages sent before the disaster, Twana posted a photograph of himself standing at the Eiffel Tower.
The court also heard a statement from one of the two survivors, Issa Omar, which was read aloud by his lawyer. Omar said he would have liked to appear before the judge but lacked the strength, adding that since the wreck he felt as though part of him had disappeared beneath the waves.
His lawyer, Matthieu Chirez, described how Omar had survived by clinging to floating bodies and a life jacket, forcing himself to keep his eyes open so as not to fall asleep and swimming to keep his heart beating. Chirez said the verdict brought relief to all the civil plaintiffs because it confirmed the criminal responsibility of the traffickers, and argued that the proceedings had humanised the victims' families.
The sentences reflected the different roles played by those convicted. The heaviest penalty, 10 years, was imposed on Obaidullah Maroofkhel, who ran the Afghan network and was tried in his absence alongside another defendant. Harem Ahmed Abawaker, a close aide to the alleged leader of the Iraqi Kurdish network, received eight years.
The alleged head of the Iraqi Kurdish network, identified only as Bashdar, was not among the defendants because he is in custody in Iraq. The lesser figures in the case were accused of offences including sheltering migrants, transporting them across France to the so-called "jungle" camp outside Calais and assisting on the night of the departure.
Most of the 14 defendants were Afghans or Iraqi Kurds. All but one appeared at trial as free men, prompting the court to issue six arrest warrants once the verdict was delivered.
Attention is now turning to a separate police investigation into seven members of the French armed forces over allegations that they failed to come to the migrants' aid on the night of the disaster. The seven were stationed either at the regional sea rescue centre or aboard a navy ship, and are accused of ignoring distress calls from the sinking boat. A decision on whether to recommend them for trial is expected in the coming months.
The verdict coincided with an announcement by France and the UK that they are ending the so-called one-in, one-out scheme, under which Britain returned irregular cross-Channel migrants to France while accepting individuals deemed likely to be granted asylum in return. France had already indicated that the year-long programme, which saw a little more than 1,000 migrants switch country, was failing to deliver the expected results in disrupting the traffickers' business model.
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