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Two migrants jailed under new small boats law
TL;DR
Two men have been jailed under a new law for piloting small boats across the Channel, endangering lives at sea. Alnour Mohamed Ali received a 27-month sentence, while Tajik Mohammed was sentenced to two years.
Key points
- Two men jailed under new law for piloting small boats
- Alnour Mohamed Ali sentenced to 27 months
- Tajik Mohammed received a two-year sentence
- New law targets endangering lives at sea
- Over 200,000 illegal crossings since 2018
Mentioned in this story
Alnour Mohamed AliTajik Mohammed
Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Act
Two men have become the first to be jailed under a new law targeting people who risk the safety of others by piloting small boats across the Channel.
Alnour Mohamed Ali, a Sudanese national, was given a 27-month sentence having previously admitted to steering an extremely crowded dinghy carrying 74 people in April.
A second man, Afghan national Tajik Mohammed, was given a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to piloting a vessel across the Channel during poor weather conditions in January.
Both admitted to endangering lives at sea under the new Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which came into force earlier this year.
It makes causing or risking the death or serious injury of a person at sea in a small boat a crime, a law designed to target people in charge of vessels which have illegally carried more than 200,000 people to the UK since 2018.
While the defendants were charged over separate incidents, they were sentenced together on Wednesday at Canterbury Crown Court due to the similarity of their offences.
The court was played drone footage of both vessels the defendants admitted steering.
In the case of Ali, 26, the boat was so full people could be seen clinging onto the edges, some with their legs dangling in the water. Many of those on board during the 9 April crossing were not wearing life jackets.
French officials previously said two men and two women drowned off the coast of northern France while trying to get into the boat, but British prosecutors now accept he was not responsible for those deaths.
At the time, French authorities said more than 40 people were rescued from the water at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Ali's barrister said there had been "misreporting" around those deaths, which had resulted in "severe repercussions" for his client. He accused the National Crime Agency of "wrongly informing the media" Ali was culpable.
The sentencing judge Recorder Simon James agreed that the suggestion from British authorities that Ali was responsible for the deaths amounted to "misinformation".
Separately, the court was shown footage of Tajik, 32, with his hand on the tiller of a small boat which embarked on a Channel crossing during foggy conditions on 17 January.
Several of those inside the crowded boat were not wearing life jackets despite the wintry conditions.
Wednesday's double-hearing also laid bare the circumstances in which some migrants decide to risk the Channel crossing.
The court was told Ali fled Sudan in 2019 after his village was targeted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, an armed group which has been involved in bloody fighting for more than a decade.
He travelled to Libya first but was imprisoned without cause on two occasions and tortured, including being starved and stabbed.
The court was told Ali's village in the Darfur region has been destroyed and he has no idea whether his family in Sudan is still alive.
Q&A
What are the sentences for the first two men jailed under the new small boats law?
Alnour Mohamed Ali received a 27-month sentence, and Tajik Mohammed was sentenced to two years.
What does the new Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Act entail?
The Act makes it a crime to cause or risk death or serious injury at sea in a small boat, targeting those piloting vessels carrying illegal migrants.
How many people have illegally crossed the Channel to the UK since 2018?
Since 2018, over 200,000 people have illegally crossed the Channel to the UK.
What was the reason for the new law targeting small boat pilots?
The law aims to enhance safety by penalizing those who endanger lives at sea while piloting overcrowded or unsafe vessels.
