ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A correctional court in Paris on Wednesday sentenced seven defendants convicted on smuggling offenses for up to 10 years in prison over their involvement in the fatal November 2021 English Channel tragedy that claimed the lives of 27 migrants with four still missing, with victims' families telling Rudaw English the long-awaited ruling brings a sense of justice.
Representatives of nine Kurdish families attended a court trial from September 8 until Wednesday for individuals accused of causing the deadly migrant tragedy, nearly five years after an overcrowded inflatable dinghy from northern France toward Britain sank in the Channel, leaving only two survivors.
A majority of the victims were Kurds hailing from the Kurdistan Region, alongside migrants from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Somalia, Vietnam and Kurdish areas of Iran. The youngest known victim was a seven-year-old girl.
The convicts include 14 men - four Kurds, one of whom was tried in absentia, and four from other nationalities. The remaining six were convicted on charges of manslaughter.
Among the Kurdish convicts, Harem Abubakr was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Hussein Fatahi and Komar each received seven years. The court further handed a seven-year sentence in absentia to another Kurdish smuggler, Soran.
Three Afghan smugglers, identified by the court as SAFI, Mangal, and Obaid, were also convicted, with Obaid receiving the maximum 10-year prison sentence. Another, Khan, was sentenced to four years.
Abubakr and Fatahi’s full names were provided by Zana Mamand, the brother of Twana Mamand, who drowned in the 2021 tragedy and whose body remains missing.
"We feel these are light punishments, but we have a good feeling today that after five years of work with the court and relevant parties, the entire criminal network received its punishment,” Mamand told Rudaw English.
“The court found everyone involved in the tragic sinking guilty,” Mamand said, citing lawyers' statements. “They were handed significant sentences that we believe are just.”
Rudaw English learned from Mustafa Mina Nabi, the father of one of the missing victims, Zanyar Mustafa, that Soran is an alias for Shahd Fahd. Nabi also pointed to another smuggler, Bashdar Abdullah, who is currently detained in Erbil on human trafficking charges.
Nabi expressed gratitude to French authorities while noting his desire for stiffer penalties.
“We are very grateful to the French authorities and we believe the ruling is very fair,” Nabi said. “They are also investigating their own police forces for us and we appreciate it.”
“The Correctional Court told us since it is not a premeditated felony we cannot refer it to a criminal court to give longer sentences,” he added.
Nabi explained that Wednesday’s verdict will be followed by a separate legal process targeting French maritime rescue personnel.
“Are you still alive!?” he said, recalling recorded distress calls made by the drowning migrants to French authorities. “Go to hell!” the emergency operators allegedly responded.
The court gave the convicted men 10 days to appeal while issuing a permanent ban against them from entering French territory.
“Please note that those who received lighter sentences played a secondary role in the smuggling ring,” the lawyers' statement read.
The court also formally recognized the civil rights of the victims and their surviving relatives.
Mamand confirmed that the court recognized himself as well as the 14 other victims the lawyers represent "as official victims,” adding that a hearing is scheduled for January to assess "damages and the financial compensation" owed by the convicted smugglers.
Nabi noted that while they only had contact with Abubakr, the other criminals were revealed by French authorities in the course of their investigations.
According to him, the smugglers divided the labor between themselves as a “criminal network,” each undertaking specific responsibilities.
“Each one of the [victims’] families knew one smuggler; we didn’t know they were part of a larger network,” he said.
Small boat arrivals in the UK have reached 18,609 so far this year, down significantly from 32,188 recorded during the same period last year, according to UK Home Office data. The figures bring the total number of small boat arrivals since 2018 to 211,242.
The updated counts follow a deadly incident on Monday, when French police reported three migrants - including a 10-year-old boy - were crushed to death aboard an overcrowded dinghy carrying 105 people.
The tragedy pushed this year’s Channel death toll to at least 22, according to an AFP tally based on official French and British sources. Research from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory shows at least 184 migrants have died attempting the Channel crossing since 2018.
