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Maltese Military Seizes Tanker Hijacked by Rescued Migrants Off Libya

Army forces and migrants stand onboard Motor Tanker El Hiblu 1 that was hijacked by migrants it had rescued off Libya, docked at Boiler Wharf in Valletta's Grand Harbor on March 28, 2019, after Maltese armed forces took control of the vessel. (Photo by Matthew MIRABELLI / AFP)
Army forces and migrants stand onboard Motor Tanker El Hiblu 1 that was hijacked by migrants it had rescued off Libya, docked at Boiler Wharf in Valletta's Grand Harbor on March 28, 2019, after Maltese armed forces took control of the vessel. (Photo by Matthew MIRABELLI / AFP)
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Maltese Military Seizes Tanker Hijacked by Rescued Migrants Off Libya

Army forces and migrants stand onboard Motor Tanker El Hiblu 1 that was hijacked by migrants it had rescued off Libya, docked at Boiler Wharf in Valletta's Grand Harbor on March 28, 2019, after Maltese armed forces took control of the vessel. (Photo by Matthew MIRABELLI / AFP)
Army forces and migrants stand onboard Motor Tanker El Hiblu 1 that was hijacked by migrants it had rescued off Libya, docked at Boiler Wharf in Valletta's Grand Harbor on March 28, 2019, after Maltese armed forces took control of the vessel. (Photo by Matthew MIRABELLI / AFP)

A tanker that was hijacked by rescued migrants off Libya docked in Malta on Thursday after a Maltese special operations team boarded the vessel and returned control to the captain.

The Palau-flagged tanker El Hiblu I had picked up the 108 migrants, including women and children, in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday evening and then headed back to Tripoli.

But six nautical miles from port, the ship suddenly changed course and headed north toward Europe.

Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday the vessel had been hijacked and vowed that the migrants would not be allowed to disembark in Italy.

The 52-meter tanker was about 30 nautical miles from Malta when the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) established communications with the captain.

"The captain repeatedly stated that he was not in control of the vessel and that he and his crew were being forced and threatened by a number of migrants to proceed to Malta," the AFM said in a statement on Thursday morning.

"AFM Patrol Vessel P21 stopped the tanker from entering the Maltese territorial waters.

"An AFM Special Operations Unit team was dispatched to board and secure the vessel in order to hand over control of the ship to the captain."

It said the team was backed up by a patrol vessel, two fast interceptor craft and a helicopter.

Escorted by the Maltese navy, the tanker arrived in the port of Valetta around 8:30am.

Journalists saw migrants suspected of having hijacked the tanker being handcuffed by Malta’s police and put in a prison van.

A private group that operates a rescue ship and monitors how governments treat migrants, Mediterranea, urged compassion for the group on the vessel and said it hoped European countries would act "in the name of fundamental rights, remembering that we are dealing with human beings fleeing hell."

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World

EU to Slash Asylum Cases from 7 Nations Deemed Safe

FILE - A convoy of buses carry Syrian refugees who return home from Lebanon, arrive at the Syrian border crossing point, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - A convoy of buses carry Syrian refugees who return home from Lebanon, arrive at the Syrian border crossing point, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
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EU to Slash Asylum Cases from 7 Nations Deemed Safe

FILE - A convoy of buses carry Syrian refugees who return home from Lebanon, arrive at the Syrian border crossing point, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - A convoy of buses carry Syrian refugees who return home from Lebanon, arrive at the Syrian border crossing point, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)

The European Union on Thursday said it would drastically reduce asylum claims from seven nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia by considering them safe countries of origin, prompting widespread outrage from human rights groups on International Migrants' Day.

An agreement between European Parliament and the European Council, or the group of the 27 EU heads of state, said that the countries would be considered safe if they lack “relevant circumstances, such as indiscriminate violence in the context of an armed conflict.”

Asylum requests by people from Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia will be "fast-tracked, with applicants having to prove that this provision should not apply to them,” read the announcement of the agreement. “The list can be expanded in the future under the EU’s ordinary legislative procedure.”

In 2024, EU nations endorsed sweeping reforms to the bloc’s failed asylum system. The rules were meant to resolve the issues that have divided the 27 countries since well over 1 million migrants swept into Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.

Under the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which goes into force in June 2026, people can be sent to countries deemed safe, but not to those where they face the risk of physical harm or persecution.

According to The Associated Press, Amnesty International EU advocate Olivia Sundberg Diez said the new measures were “a shameless attempt to sidestep international legal obligations" and would endanger migrants.

French MEP Mélissa Camara said the safe countries of origins concept and others agreed to by the Council and Parliament “opens the door to return hubs outside the EU’s borders, where third-country nationals are sometimes subjected to inhumane treatment with almost no monitoring” and “undoubtedly places thousands of people in exile in situations of danger.”

Céline Mias, the EU director of the Danish Refugee Council said that "we are deeply worried that this fast-track system will fail to protect people in need of protection, including activists, journalists and marginalized groups in places where human rights are clearly under attack.”

Alessandro Ciriani, an Italian MEP with the European Conservatives and Reformists group, said the designation sends a firm message that the EU has toughened its borders.

“Europe wants enforceable rules and shared responsibility. Now this commitment must become operational: effective returns, structured cooperation with third countries and real measures to support EU member states,” he said.

He said that clear delineations of safe and unsafe nations would rid the EU of “excessive interpretative uncertainty” that led to a kind of paralysis for national decision makers over border controls.

The measures also allows individual nations within the bloc to designate other countries safe for their own immigration purposes.

World

Rubio Says US Sanctioning ICC Judges for Targeting Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to traveling journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 12, 2025 after the G7 foreign ministers meeting. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to traveling journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 12, 2025 after the G7 foreign ministers meeting. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
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Rubio Says US Sanctioning ICC Judges for Targeting Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to traveling journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 12, 2025 after the G7 foreign ministers meeting. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to traveling journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 12, 2025 after the G7 foreign ministers meeting. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the US was sanctioning two judges of the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel.

"Today, I am designating two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, pursuant to Executive Order 14203," Rubio said in a statement, referring to the order President Donald Trump signed in February sanctioning the ICC, Reuters reported.

"These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel's consent," he said.

The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC.

The US sanctions in February include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.

World

US Imposes Sanctions on Vessels Linked to Iran, Treasury Website Says

A crew member raises the Iranian flag on Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
A crew member raises the Iranian flag on Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
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US Imposes Sanctions on Vessels Linked to Iran, Treasury Website Says

A crew member raises the Iranian flag on Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
A crew member raises the Iranian flag on Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 29 vessels and their management firms, the Treasury Department said, as Washington continues targeting Tehran's "shadow fleet" it says exports Iranian petroleum and petroleum products, Reuters reported.

The targeted vessels and companies have transported hundreds of millions of dollars of the products through deceptive shipping practices, Treasury said.

Thursday's action also targets businessman Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, whose companies are associated with seven of the vessels cited, as well as multiple shipping companies.