Migrant ship with 150 on board arrives near Italian island after judge overrules Salvini’s ban

Spanish humanitarian ship stranded in Mediterranean Sea for nearly two weeks amid political turmoil

A migrant reads verses of the Quran aboard the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat as it arrives near the Lampedusa coast in the Mediterranean Sea (Francisco Gentico/AP)

A migrant rescue ship with nearly 150 people on board has docked near an Italian island after a judge in Rome overruled the interior minister Matteo Salvini’s ban on the boat entering the country’s waters.

The Open Arms was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea for nearly two weeks after Mr Salvini said the ship should not be allowed to dock.

Since coming to power in June 2018, the head of the far-right League party has made closing Italian ports to rescue boats one of his flagship policies. He also spearheaded a stringent new law which allows ships to be fined up to €1m for illegally entering Italian waters.

But on Wednesday, an administrative court in Rome suspended the ban prohibiting the boat from entering the country’s waters “because of the exceptional gravity and urgency of the situation”.

The court ruled that the ban violated international laws and called for “immediate assistance to the to the rescued people most in need”.

Following the ruling, Mr Salvini issued a fresh decree banning the ship from docking at the island of Lampedusa to disembark the passengers.

But the Italian defence minister Elisabetta Trenta, a member of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, refused to countersign it and said she was “listening to my conscience”.

“We can't forget that behind the polemics of these days there are children and youths who suffered violence and every kind of abuse,” she said. “Politics can't lose humanity.”

The move comes after Mr Salvini pulled the plug on the ruling coalition between his League and the Five Star Movement last week and called for fresh elections.

Migrants sit aboard the Open Arms as it arrives near Lampedusa coast in the Mediterranean Sea (AP/Francisco Gentico)

Meanwhile, Italian RAI state radio said two navy ships are nearby to evacuate the children on board the Open Arms.

Two babies were already evacuated by helicopter from the ship to Malta on Wednesday for health reasons, Proactive Open Arms, the charity which operates the ship said.

In an open letter on Thursday, Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte said that six EU countries had agreed to take in some of the 147 migrants on the ship including France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg.

While the crisis over the Open Arms continues, another migrant boat has appealed for assistance after being stranded in Italian waters.

The Ocean Viking, a Norwegian ship operated by Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee, is waiting to find out where it can safely disembark 356 migrants on board. So far, its requests have been denied by both Italy and Malta.

UNICEF has urged for immediate action to ensure the children on board both the Ocean Viking and the Open Arms are rescued.

“It is unconscionable that once again politics have been prioritised over saving the lives of children who are stranded on the Mediterranean Sea,” UNICEF regional director Afshan Khan said.

She said that 130 children were on board the two ships and “only 11 of the 103 children aboard the Ocean Viking are accompanied by a parent or guardian.”

The UN refugee agency has also urged European governments to step forward and agree to take those stranded on the rescue boats.

Over the last year, just under 4,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, according to the International Organisation of Migration.

In comparison more than 13,500 arrived in Spain and nearly 19,000 in Greece over the same period.

Additional reporting by agencies