‘Free the Nine’ campaign uses St Paul's feast to highlight 'irony' of Malians' detention

The Solidarity with Migrants group has said that it is “ironic” for the Maltese to celebrate the St Paul’s feast, commemorating a Biblical passage relating Maltese hospitality and empathy with foreigners, while nine Malian nationals are still detained at Safi detention centre in lieu of their deportation.

The group said that it chose this day to launch their ‘Free the Nine’ campaign, calling on the competent authorities to release the nine Malian migrants who have up to now been incarcerated for almost three months.

The group has chosen the feast of St Paul to launch their ‘Free the Nine’ campaign

The nine Malians are the remaining few of a total of 33 co-nationals who were detained on 16 November last year, as part of a joint EU programme which saw the EU sign a deal with Mali to provide funds to Mali in return for its agreement to accept failed asylum seekers and aid in fighting human smuggler.

The group of migrants – some of whom have been living in Malta for the past eight years – used to regularly report to the police headquarters to get their papers renewed. However, on this day, they appeared for their appointment to renew their documents, only to end up being detained and taken to the detention centre with plans to deport them.

Four of them were later released following a review carried out by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner. In December, a further 15 migrants were released, followed by another four.

Their arrest came after the government’s decision to revoke temporary humanitarian protection-New (THPn) permits that used to be issued to failed asylum seekers on an annual basis.