Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship

By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) - The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders - MSF) on Wednesday obtained the release of its migrant rescue ship, which had been grounded two weeks ago by Italy's right-wing government.

MSF's Geo Barents vessel was handed a 60-day detention order, the longest on record, for allegedly failing to properly coordinate with Italian and Libyan authorities as it picked up migrants off Libya on Aug. 23.

A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel had been blocked, suspended the measure, the charity wrote on X.

"The ship is free to rescue lives!" it said.

The detention order was the third against the vessel, and the longest to date. MSF International President Christos Christou travelled to Salerno to support the organisation's appeal against it.

"At this exact moment the Mediterranean is a huge emergency room and Geo Barents and the doctors are sitting in a corner with their hands tied," Christou told Reuters, accusing the government of obstructing humanitarian sea rescues.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed legislation to curb the activities of NGOs in the Mediterranean, including by impounding of their vessels or forcing them to travel long distances to disembark migrants, increasing their fuel costs.

Christou dismissed government charges against the MSF ship, saying it had been "waiting for instructions" as it approached a migrant boat, and spontaneously picked up its passengers after they jumped into the sea.

Meloni has defended her approach, pledging at a cabinet meeting last month to launch another crackdown - this time on migrant work permits - and saying the fall in sea arrivals under her watch also resulted in fewer migrant drownings.

"The only way to prevent further tragedies at sea is to stop departures and fight unscrupulous traffickers," she said.

The MSF chief said Meloni's claims overlooked the fact that many deaths at sea go unreported, and argued that migrants blocked on their way to Italy would reach Europe via other routes.

In the year to date, there have been about 44,500 sea arrivals in Italy, and around 1,100 people drowned or went missing at sea. Year-on-year, arrivals are down by 62%, while the dead or missing have fallen by a lesser extent - about 50%.

As part of its deterrence strategy, Meloni's government is also building detention camps in Albania for migrants picked up at sea. The plan, hit by delays and criticism from human rights advocates, is expected to be operational within weeks.

Christou said MSF had "serious concerns" about the initiative, calling it "another new way of externalising the duty of the Italians and Europeans" to assist people fleeing from poverty or conflict.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Ros Russell)