‘Without any humanity’: Eritrea human trafficker gets 20 years

THE HAGUE: A Dutch court on Tuesday sentenced an Eritrean man to 20 years in prison for operating a human trafficking ring in which migrants were tortured and their families extorted.
The court said the man, identified as Amanuel Walid, had treated migrants “without any humanity” as they were transported from Eritrea to Europe via Libya.
“Your only aim was to earn as much money as possible from people who were looking for a better future,” presiding judge Rene Melaard told Walid.
Gang members abused thousands of migrants before detaining them in overcrowded and dirty camps in Libya, extorting their families for large sums of money.
The court in the northern Dutch city of Zwolle heard how gang members tortured victims while on the phone to their families in the Netherlands, demanding payments to make the abuse stop.
Only once family members had transferred money were the victims put on rickety boats for the perilous trip across the Mediterranean Sea. Many drowned in the crossing.
Prosecutors had called for the maximum sentence of 20 years, accusing him of leading a criminal organization with the intent to commit human trafficking, extortion, hostage-taking, and sexual offenses.
“The court finds that the seriousness and the extent of those crimes justifies such a 20-year sentence,” said Melaard.
He noted Walid had never expressed remorse for his actions and that a psychiatric observation center had judged him mentally fit to take criminal responsibility.
Melaard said he was also imposing the maximum sentence “because of the particularly cruel, violent, and degrading treatment to which the defendant and his accomplices subjected the migrants.”
The court ruled however it had no jurisdiction over the charges of hostage-taking and sexual offenses as these alleged crimes did not take place on Dutch soil.
Walid has been in custody in the Netherlands since October 2022. There is confusion over both his name and his age. He says he has a different name and is 46, not 42.
He made no substantive comments in court, except to deny the charges. He said it is a case of mistaken identity.