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The far-right and Italian spooks spied on our rescue missions
DARIUSH BEIGUI and HENDRIK SIMON, former members of the NGO rescue ship Iuventa, tell Ben Cowles how Matteo Salvini and the Italian secret services tried to criminalise them for saving lives at sea
Hendrik Simon (left) and Dariush Beiui (right) on both sides the Iuventa [Paul Louis Wagner and Moritz Richter]

IT’S normal now for the NGO refugee rescue ships operating in the Mediterranean to expect to be met with outright hostility by the European Union and the Italian and Maltese governments.

There were several cases last year when Italy and Malta blocked charity rescue ships — like the Alan Kurdi, Sea Watch 3, Ocean Viking, Open Arms, Mare Juno and others — from disembarking the rescued in their ports for weeks.  

The Iuventa (Pic: Keny Karpov)
Hendrik Simon behind the wheel of one of the Iuventa's rigid-hulled inflatable (RHIB) boats
Dariush Beigui on the Iuventa (Pic: Selene Magnolia)
The red dot marks the position of the Italian island of Lampedusa in the central Mediterranean
One of the Iuventa's RHIBs approaches a refugee boat
The 10 members of the Iuventa who are under investigation for saving migrant lives in the Mediterranean (Pic: Kai von Kotze)
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