ITALY’S highest court confirmed today that a former captain of an NGO refugee-rescue ship should never have been arrested.

In June last year, Carola Rackete was captain of the civil rescue ship Sea Watch 3, which is operated by the German charity Sea Watch.

The ship’s crew saved the lives of 40 people from the central Mediterranean last summer and after a 17-day stand-off with Italy, Ms Rackete entered the port of Lampedusa without permission.