A chara, – Regarding the story raised by Breda O’Brien about the young humanitarian Seán Binder, facing trial this week (“EU must block criminalisation of humanitarianism”, November 13th), unfortunately this is not the first time EU countries have tried to criminalise lifesaving actions at sea.
Seán’s co-accused, Sarah Mardini, meanwhile will not even be allowed to travel to Greece to defend herself, in part because of her own status as a Syrian refugee.
On her own journey escaping Syria, Sarah and her sister Yusra pushed a sinking boat to safety, and she now faces trial in absentia for helping others escape such dangers in the Mediterranean.
This week I was joined by 70 MEPs, including a majority of Irish MEPs, to bring pressure on EU and Greek authorities to ultimately drop the charges against these humanitarians.
Seán and his co-accused stand accused of one thing: showing humanity to those fleeing places of inhumanity and terror.
This is not just the right thing to do, it is international law. Those in distress at sea must be rescued and rescue workers must be protected. – Is mise,
GRACE O’SULLIVAN,
Green Party MEP,
Brussels.