V_SAR Op 17.08.21 B

These are the words that the first victim we found wrote to us.

17 August 2021 – Mohamed’s case

This was a collective pushback recorded in the Frontex JORA database for Joint Operation Themis 2021 , IncidentID: 710494, IncidentNumber: 455112.

This pushback was a JO Themis 2021 operation – conducted by “Frontex in synergy with the Italian authorities and the support of the Member States of the European Union and the Schengen Associated Countries.” (cit. Italian Ministry of Defense https://www.difesa.it/OperazioniMilitari/op_intern_corso/JointOperationTriton/Pagine/default.aspx ). It is therefore an operation conducted by Frontex and Italy. The Libyans are not part of JO Themis operations.

The wooden boat on which the migrants who were subject to pushback were travelling was located in international waters by European air assets which then sent the Libyan patrol boat Ras El Jadir 648 to capture them .

In conjunction with what is recorded in the JORA database, using the air routes of the ADB-S Exchange website and with the testimonies of the pushback victims we can establish the direct intervention of European air assets, specifically the Frontex AS2132 Heron Shoval drone and the Italian Air Force Beechcraft B.350ER SPYDR aircraft. As for the drone, it appears that this aircraft was operating for the Maltese government at that date. 

JLProject has tracked down many victims, including one, Mohamed, who died in Libya after the pushback (hit by a vehicle while escaping from the detention centre in which those pushed back had been detained).

One of the victim is now in France, the others are in Libya or other African countries.

The pushback victims are clearly recognizable in the photographs of the landing in Tripoli posted by the Libyans.

The pushback victims differ in their recall of whether the person driving the boat called for help or communicated with anyone during the crossing.

Case data

• Wooden boat
• 76 people – all male
• Captured on 17 August 2021 by the Libyan patrol boat Ras El Jadir 648
• Disembarked in Tripoli shortly before sunset the same day

Frontex Incident Report Data

IncidentID	710494
IncidentNumber	455112
OperationSectorType	SEA
PrimaryIncidentType	Prevention of departure
Exit
SAR	No
OperationStatus	Active
DetectionByFrxAsset	Yes
InterceptionByFrxAsset	No
OtherFrontexAssetInvolvement	No
FrontexInvolvement	Yes
ReportingCountry	Italy
DetectionDate	2021-08-17
InterceptionDate	2021-08-17
CountryOfDeparture	Libya
DetectionInitiatedBy	MAS
Disembarkation	Tripoli
TransportType	wooden boat
num_l_MigrantsDeterred	30
num_total_persons	0

NOTE: The case is present in the Frontex JORA database. There should also be a more detailed report, but JLProject has not yet found it. With the ID and case number, it will be possible to access the files at Frontex.
Frontex frequently gets the number of people and the type of boat wrong, because the people who write the reports are not very good at extracting this data from aerial photos. In this case they recorded the type of boat correctly (wooden boat) but underestimated the passengers.
There is a second pushback case which disembarked in Tripoli on the same date – rubber boat ID 710508, number 455115. Given the type of boat, we have excluded it from the scope of this investigation.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL OF THE CASE

The Libyans posted a report of the case on Twitter with photos of the disembarkation.

In the first tweet ( https://twitter.com/rgowans/status/1428011163355435011?s=20 ) they conflate the pushbacks effected by the Ras El Jadir and the Ubari, another Libyan patrol boat. In subsequent tweets they then go into detail dividing the two operations.

At the link https://twitter.com/rgowans/status/1428409247176478723?s=20 they provided an (inaccurate) count of the victims returned on each patrol boat:

We can easily identify which photos are of the pushback carried out by the patrol boat Ras El Jadir, because its number (648) is clearly visible.

We have 4 photos, which we name F1, F2, F3, F4. 

Some Libyan newspapers and websites also report the pushbacks which occurred on 17 August. For example:
https://libyaupdate.com/tripoli-coast-guard-intercepts-172-migrants-on-their-way-to-europe/

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECOGNITION

All the victims we found are visible in the 4 disembarkation photos. The photograph in which the of the face of victim no. 1 is visible was sufficiently high quality that our facial recognition software was able to recognise him without difficulty.

CASE RECONSTRUCTION

Day 16 August 2021

Around 18:00 UTC (around 20:00 CAT):
Departure of the boat from the port of Al Zawiya. It is a wooden boat, blue on the top and red on the lower part. On board there are between 70 and 75 people, all men, of different nationalities, including Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt. (Source: testimony of the victims)

Day 17 August 2021

02:07 UTC : Frontex drone (AS2132) Heron Shoval takes off from Malta (source: ADS-B Exchange data)

04:00 UTC Frontex drone (AS2132) Heron Shoval reaches the Zawiya – Lampedusa route and starts flying over the area. (source: ADS-B Exchange data)

Between 4:00 and 5:00 UTC : The victims reported that around 6 am (CAT) a plane flew over their boat. (Source: testimony of the victims)

04:17 UTC (06:17 CAT) : Frontex drone (AS2132) Heron Shoval appears to have identified something of interest, circling a point at coordinates 33.954, 12.550. (source: ADS-B Exchange data)

The Frontex AS2132 Heron Shoval drone remains flying over the area for hours.

Note: between 6:47 and 6:58 the Heron Shoval drone’s transponder is not emitting a signal, the rest of the time it does. Some circular flight patterns typical of surveillance flying can be identified.

07:25 UTC : Frontex drone AS2132 Heron Shoval performs another circular flight pattern at coordinates 33.525, 12.038.

07:44 UTC the drone passes over the exact same point again:

09:30 UTC : Frontex drone AS2132 Heron Shoval flies in a circle over a point at coordinates 34.298, 12.359, still on the Zawiya-Lampedusa route.

Orario non specificato: le motovedette Ras El Jadir 648 e Ubari 660 ricevono una richiesta di intervento, ma non è chiaro da chi provenga. I libici non lo dicono.

Traduzione del comunicato: “Nell’ambito degli sforzi umanitari e dei compiti sovrani per proteggere le coste libiche, fornire servizi di ricerca e soccorso nell’area di competenza libica e salvare la vita agli immigrati clandestini via mare, due motovedette della Guardia costiera libica sono riuscite ieri (17.8.2021) da soccorrere (172 immigrati di diverse nazionalità africane in due distinte operazioni), diretti verso le coste europee su due barconi. Immediatamente dopo aver ricevuto una richiesta di soccorso, le due imbarcazioni (Ubari e Ras Jadir) sono state spostate dopo essere state dotate delle capacità necessarie per l’operazione di soccorso e recupero (sul posto), dove i membri dell’apparato hanno svolto al meglio il loro ruolo . Subito dopo il completamento delle operazioni di soccorso, i migranti sono stati sbarcati presso (punto di sbarco della Base Navale di Tripoli) e sono stati tutti trasferiti all’Agenzia Anti-Immigrazione clandestina”¹

Orario imprecisato: l’aereo Italian Air Force Beechcraft B.350ER SPYDR (reg. MM62300 – callsign IAM1499) decolla da Pantelleria per una missione di pattugliamento in SAR libica. Abbiamo solo un tracciato parziale perché tiene il transponder spento per la maggior parte del volo.

Dalle 13:45 alle 15:02 UTC
il transponder dell’aereo Italian Air Force Beechcraft B.350ER SPYDR (reg. MM62300 – callsign IAM1499) è acceso e abbiamo la sua rotta. Ma non sappiamo dove sia stato prima delle 13:45 UTC.)

Tra le 12 e le 14 UTC (14 e 16 CAT) CATTURA operata dalla motovedetta Ras El Jadir 648. (Fonte: racconto dei respinti)

Successivamente la motovedetta Ras El Jadir 648 cattura altre persone da un’altra barca. (Fonte: racconto dei respinti).

17-17.30 UTC^: SBARCO al porto di Tripoli.

Dopo l’approdo impiegati di IOM e IRC salgono a bordo della motovedetta Ras el Jadir 648. Distribuiscono acqua e cibo.

Nelle foto postate dai libici (soprattutto F3) si vede il riflesso del sole sulla motovedetta: la luce arriva obliqua da ovest, è poco prima del tramonto.

Ore 17:47 UTC (19:47 CAT) tramonto del sole a Tripoli.

Ore successive: dal porto di Tripoli i respinti vengono deportati alla prigione Ghout Sha’al (Al Mabani).

Ore 19 UTC: drone di Frontex (AS2132) Heron Shoval atterra da Malta dopo la sua missione (fonte: dati ADS-B Exchange)

Giorni e settimane successive:

Dopo 4 giorni alcuni respinti riescono a scappare dal campo di Ghout Sha’al(Al Mabani). Altri invece fuggiranno dopo circa 45 giorni. Durante la fuga uno dei respinti, Mohamed, viene investito da un’auto in corsa e muore.