When: 14.11.25, 7pm
Where: Vierte Welt, Adalbertstraße 96, 10999 Berlin

Event by de:criminalize – Sudan Uprising Germany – Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

decriminalize.eu/en/from-war-...

Panel:
- Mustafa Ahmed & Eirini Tsilafaki, 50outofmany & Mataris Athens
- Ibrahim Izzeldeen, Sudan Uprising Germany
- Julia Winkler, de:criminalize
- Moderation: Hanaa Hakiki, ECCHR

We will also hear directly from some of the boys via video and audio messages.

We will speak about the situation of Sudanese war refugees imprisoned in Greece, the ongoing war in Sudan, how European smuggling laws are used to criminalize migration and justify mass incarceration and the colonial continuities that underpin these injustices and systematic violence today.

Their lays bare the continuum of neocolonial violence: barely adults, they fled a brutal war fueled by imperialist and geopolitical interests, survived Libya's EU-funded detention industry – only to be punished with prison in Europe for facilitating their own and others' arrival and survival.

We shared stories of those imprisoned for acts like steering a boat, and exchanged strategies of resistance, care, and collective strength in the face of this repression.

We are many and we are strong! Solidarity will win! 4/4

Together with comrades from Greece, Spain, Egypt, France & Italy we discussed how the so-called fight against smuggling has become a tool to legitimize the criminalization of migration and solidarity — feeding into wider systems of mass incarceration and border violence. 3/4

“Sabir,” once the common language of Mediterranean sailors, now symbolizes the need to rebuild a shared language grounded in civil society. 2/4

These arrests and trials are disguised as “fighting crime,” but in truth are designed to deter, to scapegoat, and to produce statistics.

We will keep fighting — inside and outside the courtroom —
until this arbitrary and racist criminalisation finally ends! 5/5

We are relieved they had strong legal defence and that the sentence wasn’t as extreme as the prosecution requested.

However, it is deeply troubling that people face completely different outcomes: some are acquitted, while others receive sentences of 10 years or more for exactly the same thing. 4/5

Thanks to the work of our lawyer, however, the court accepted several mitigating circumstances.

Both were sentenced to 10 years filakisi — filakisi meaning early release is possible after 2/5 of the time (~4 years), which can be further reduced if they study or work in prison. 3/5

Unlike courts in Heraklion or Samos, the court in Chania has never recognised that asylum seekers must not be criminalised for steering boats.

Yesterday was no different.

The prosecution showed no understanding of the reality faced by people escaping war and demanded the harshest sentence. 2/5

Yes, there are shitty smugglers — just as there are bad landlords or taxi drivers — but smuggling as such is a service made necessary by the criminalization of migration. And for that very reason, it is being targeted — not, as authorities often claim, in order to "protect" people on the move. 7/7

ATTENTION: The problem at hand isn’t simply that the “wrong people” are being arrested.

By adopting this line of argument, we imply that there is a right way to apply these laws — and that the laws themselves are legitimate. 6/7

In a perverse act of victim-blaming, he was charged with “smuggling resulting in death” — by the very same states that force people onto these dangerous routes in the first place. 5/7

The trial of 21-year-old Sudanese S.G. will take place on the island of Samos.

Because he could not afford to pay for being smuggled, he had to steer the boat — a journey that ended in a tragic shipwreck, for which he is now being held responsible. 4/7

Like so many others, they have been charged with “facilitating the unauthorized entry” of the other people on the boat simply because they took on tasks during the journey — a charge systematically used to criminalize and deter people on the move. 3/7

Nourdeen and Mohamad are two 20-year-old men from Sudan.

They arrived in Greece together in February, hoping for safety and to rebuild their lives. Instead, they were arrested upon arrival.

They have already spent 10 months in pre-trial detention in Avlona Youth Prison in Athens. 2/7