Yesterday, 22 October 2025, the trial of Nourdeen and Mohamad, two 20-year-old men from Sudan, took place in Chania, Crete.
Both arrived in Greece together in February, hoping for safety and a chance to rebuild their lives. Instead, they were arrested upon arrival and have already spent 10 months in pre-trial detention in Avlona Youth Prison in Athens.
They were charged with “facilitation of unauthorized entry” of 55 other people — simply because they were steering the boat during the journey. This charge, used systematically across Greece, criminalizes people on the move for acts of survival and solidarity. On almost every boat, at least one person is arrested; every year, countless people are imprisoned — punished simply for arriving and for helping others reach safety.
Unlike courts in Heraklion or Samos, the court in Chania has never recognised that asylum seekers should not be criminalised for steering boats they themselves were forced to flee on.
Yesterday was no different. The prosecution was relentless, showing no understanding of the reality faced by people escaping war, and demanded the harshest possible sentence.
Thanks to the tireless work of our lawyer, the court did accept several mitigating circumstances.
Both Mohamad and Nourdeen were sentenced to 10 years of filakisi (imprisonment) — meaning early release is possible after 2/5 of the time, around four years, which can be further reduced if they study or work while in prison. They also have the right to appeal the sentence.
We are relieved that they had strong legal defence and that the punishment was less severe than what the prosecution demanded.
At the same time, it is deeply troubling that people in identical situations face completely different outcomes across Greece: some are acquitted, while others receive decades-long sentences for exactly the same thing.
These arrests and trials are disguised as “fighting crime”, but in truth they are designed to deter, to scapegoat, and to produce statistics — not justice.
They reflect a racist and arbitrary system that punishes those forced to move, rather than the policies that make safe movement impossible.
Across Greece, other trials continue. On the same day, 21-year-old S.G. from Sudan faced court in Samos. Because he could not afford to pay for his own passage, he was forced to steer the boat — a journey that ended in a tragic shipwreck, for which he is now being held responsible. 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.
The issue is not that “the wrong people” are being arrested — it’s that these laws themselves are unjust.
By accepting the idea that there is a “right” way to apply them, we obscure the truth: the criminalization of so-called smuggling is part and parcel of the criminalization of migration itself.
Yes, there are people who exploit others — just as there are bad taxi drivers or landlords — but the paid service of smuggling exists only because safe and legal routes are denied. As long as mobility remains illegalized, people will continue to risk their lives — and others will continue to be punished for helping them.
We will keep fighting — inside and outside the courtroom — until this arbitrary and racist criminalization finally ends.
STOP THE MASS INCARCERATION OF PEOPLE ON THE MOVE!