Tunisian 'forced' to pilot migrant death boat that sank off Libya
Brother says the accused migrant was held at gunpoint to captain ship that sank off the coast of Libya, killing more than 700 people on board
The Tunisian man accused of piloting a migrant boat that sank off Libya, killing more than 700 people, is a migrant who was forced at gunpoint to captain the ship because of his experience as a fisherman, his brother has claimed.
Italian authorities say the man named in court as Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, was in charge of the heavily overloaded fishing boat that capsized shortly before midnight on April 18 with hundreds of African and Bangladeshi migrants locked below deck.
The man's brother said the Tunisian's real name was Nourredine Mahjoub and he had first travelled clandestinely to Europe five years ago, spending time in Italy and France before being deported. He had recently returned to Libya seeking work.
"My brother was recruited by Libyans to work in a cafe in Libya a few weeks ago, but afterwards he was forced under threat by smugglers to pilot the voyage because he knows a little about the sea and worked with our father fishing," the brother, Makrem Mahjoub, said.
He said his brother had called from a Libyan number a few days earlier to say he had been threatened by men with Kalashnikovs and ordered to pilot the ship.
"They took him to the boat. When he called, he was in shock and crying."
The account could not be independently verified. Makrem Mahjoub said his brother had given a false identity to Italian authorities, but did not give any reason why. Only 28 people survived the capsize, believed to be the deadliest disaster on the Mediterranean for decades.