| status | Legal Proceedings |
| name | V_SAR Op 17.02.20 A |
| date | 2020-02-17 |
| number_of_people | 235 |
| victims_found | some |
| patrol_boat | Ras el Jadir 648 |
| prison | |
| related_icao | N919CK |
| link | https://twitter.com/rgowans/status/1229461237240672256 |
Pushback – 17 February 2020
The pushback was carried out by Ras El Jadir 648 but coordinated by Operation Sophia.
3 boats were involved (a grey-and-black dinghy + a dark dinghy + a third unknown dinghy).
All three dinghies disembarked at Tripoli.
At least the grey-and-black rubber boat had called for assistance (via Alarm Phone). Alarm Phone has the Thuraya number, the call recordings, and the coordinates of the interception.
The Operation Sophia aircraft SW4 seized at least the grey-and-black dinghy.
There is an official email sent by EUNAVFOR MED to a journalist which confirms in writing that its aircraft intercepted at least one of the boats and passed the rubber dinghy’s coordinates to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
Case Reconstruction
On the morning of Monday 17 February, around 12:00 Italian time, at least five boats were at sea, mostly dinghies. On board were men, women and young children.
At least two of these boats were in international waters.
One of the boats called Alarm Phone, which recorded and logged its coordinates: approximately 52 nautical miles from Libya:
There were no NGO vessels in the area (Ocean Viking and Sea Watch 3 were more than 200 miles away).
An aircraft flew over the dinghy carrying the refugees.
That same morning, an Operation Sophia aircraft from Luxembourg, SW4, took off from an Italian base. Sergio Scandura of Radio Radicale reported it on his Twitter account. The aircraft belongs to CAE Aviation, a Luxembourg-based company specialised in aerial surveillance and reconnaissance. Through a public-private partnership, CAE Aviation operates maritime patrol aircraft for EUNAVFOR MED, also known as Operation Sophia. https://www.cae-aviation.com/en/flotte/fairchild-sa227-merlin-iv-en/
The aircraft spotted the two dinghies when they were 50 nautical miles north of Garabulli. That is, according to international law, in international waters.
By Operation Sophia itself, the aircraft recorded the coordinates of at least one vessel and passed them on to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
(As luck would have it) a single Libyan patrol boat arrived and intercepted both dinghies.
Shortly after, the Twitter account of the Libyan militia, Rgowans, posted a photograph showing the interception of one of the dinghies.
A few days later, two photographs of the second dinghy were also posted:
Here are the two photographs:
Leonardo Filippi writes in an excellent article for Left: “In several cases, Operation Sophia served only to alert the Libyan Navy to migrant boats, effectively preventing their escape and resulting in their return to Libyan detention centres.”
Pushbacks documented by JLProject
– Grey and black dinghy: 3 people
– Dark dinghy: 2 people
Case Materials
There is substantial material covering multiple operations and boats. This has been organised as follows:
UNHCR photographs
UNHCR posted a tweet after the disembarkation: https://x.com/UNHCRLibya/status/1229719837825470464?s=20
The two photographs are original and relevant to the case.
The same two photographs also appear on UNHCR’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UNHCRTripoli/posts/pfbid031afu5a7z1WwsyPaaDJJeCxR7bAqT3ENKA8n6Zpf5gBX8bzFxK2ub7w9dttYN4iwol
IOM photographs
On 18 February, IOM posted a tweet that appears generic but includes photographs from the 17 February pushback: https://x.com/IOM_Libya/status/1229710976204902400?s=20
The second photograph shows the same patrol boat and the same migrants as in the ones from UNHCR.
Rgowans photographs
The first Rgowans tweet (18:42 CAT – 17 Feb 2020) states:
[BREAKING] SAR 17.02.20 – Libyan Coast Guard ship “Ras Jadar” rescued in different ops ca. 235 migrants!
But posts an archive image: https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229461237240672256?s=20
In the same thread, the second tweet (23:46 CAT – 17 Feb 2020) reads:
1/2 [UPDATE] #SAR Op 17.02.20 – Libyan Coast Guard in 3 separate operations rescued 325 migrants. LCG ship “Ras Jadar” rescued 235 migrants including women and children from 2 boats. All disembarked at Tripoli Naval Base. Link: https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229537567521038337?s=20
These images appear to be original. They all show the same dinghy, which we will call DARK DINGHY.
The third tweet in the thread is from the Zuwara 644 patrol boat, a different operation with disembarkation at Khoms:
2/2[UPDATE] #SAR Op 17.02.20 – Libyan Coast Guard ship “Zuwara” from Central Sector rescued 90 #migrants from 1 boat. All rescued disembarked safely at Al Khums. Link: https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229537570352226307?s=20
A photograph is included.
A few days later, on 21 February, Rgowans shared a new thread in which many photographs from the 17 February pushback operation were reused.
In the first tweet of the thread (https://x.com/rgowans/status/1230914140677513218?s=20), the first two photographs show the dark dinghy (the people on board correspond to the previous ones).
In the second tweet (https://x.com/rgowans/status/1230914144641089541?s=20) original photographs are used again.
The first three images of this tweet are certainly from the 17/02/20 Ras El Jadir operation: the first one is of the dark dinghy (the people on board match those in the previous photographs); the second and third are of the grey and black dinghy. The fourth needs further analysis.
The third tweet contains a video (https://x.com/rgowans/status/1230914148336308225?s=20), attributing it to the 17/02/20 Ras El Jadir operation.
The video shows a dark dinghy. Frame comparison with the photograph of the dark dinghy is pending.
On 17 February, the patrol boat Zawiya 656 was otherwise engaged; the Libyan coastguard was holding a family gathering on board: https://www.facebook.com/2020m202/posts/pfbid0HQut5HNUSmKUdW5j85MKfBipX6mMZJDs1uR9gWXmCdR66dzjAwQU1CfaohZDKwcKl
On 18 February 2020, there were two additional operations (4 boats intercepted)
- Pushback by patrol boat Fezzan 658 (3 boats intercepted – 180 people disembarked in Tripoli) https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229880634132357120?s=20 and https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229766584333410304?s=20
- Pushback by patrol boat Ras El Jadir 648 (1 boat intercepted – 43 people disembarked in Tripoli) https://x.com/rgowans/status/1229880631510929413?s=20
The JLP has further information and documents on the case. Interested lawyers can request them.
The English version of this dossier was translated by IN.TRA (Inclusive Translation for Community Engagement), a pro-bono language services provider as part of a service-learning project within the Department of Interpreting and Translation (DIT) at the University of Bologna.