Somali National News Agency
So
Ar
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
    Local NewsShow More
    Galmudug Leaders and Turkish Ambassador Discuss Improving Economic Infrastructure
    July 11, 2025
    Somali Ministry of Health Commends Women’s Role in National Development
    July 11, 2025
    Somali Foreign Minister Holds Significant Meeting with Nigerian Counterpart
    July 11, 2025
    Somali Minister of Youth and Sports Participates in Arab Youth Strategy Conference in Jordan
    July 11, 2025
    Banaadir Governor Urges Dayniile Residents to Participate in Voter Registration
    July 11, 2025
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Nairobi is locked down as Kenyan police clash with protesters
    July 8, 2025
    Texas floods leave at least 51 dead, 27 girls missing as rescuers search devastated landscape
    July 6, 2025
    Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops
    June 9, 2025
    31 Palestinians are killed heading to a Gaza aid site, witnesses say. Israel denies responsibility
    June 7, 2025
    Hajj Season 1446 AH: Synergy Between Technology and Humanity in Serving the Guests of Allah
    June 6, 2025
  • Articles
    ArticlesShow More
    A Somali Lens on Xinjiang: Shared Prosperity, Cultural Vitality, and Triumph Over Adversity Offer Lessons for the World.
    July 11, 2025
    THE NEW FACE OF INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY IN SOMALIA: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES
    July 10, 2025
    Exploring cultural richness of ‘pearl of Silk Road’ Kashgar
    July 8, 2025
    From Zheng He to Xi Jinping: China and Somalia’s New Vision for Self-Reliance
    July 8, 2025
    Farming the Desert: How Jiashi County Transformed Arid Land Through Innovation and Water Security
    July 4, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Somalia Unveils the Blueprint for a Modern and Sustainable Mogadishu
    December 21, 2024
    Djibouti Launches $57.4 Million Youth Entrepreneurship Project to Combat Climate Change
    November 25, 2024
    FM meets Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia
    October 28, 2024
    President Hassan Sheikh Inaugurates New LPG Storage Center in Mogadishu
    May 12, 2024
    Collaboration of ICT transformation for digital Infrastructure
    October 24, 2023
  • Sports
    SportsShow More
    Mogadishu Stadium to Host Star-Studded Match Featuring Somali Legends and International Football Icons
    May 27, 2025
    Arsenal held at Brighton while Man City bounce-back continues
    January 5, 2025
    Galmudug wins the Inter-State Football Tournament
    January 29, 2024
    Somalia set for two int’l friendlies ahead of WC qualifier clashes against Algeria and Uganda
    October 10, 2023
    Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver
    October 3, 2023
  • Tenders
    TendersShow More
Reading: EU calls for independent inquiry into Greece ‘pushback’ of asylum seekers
Share
Font ResizerAa
Somali National News AgencySomali National News Agency
  • SOMALI
  • ARABIC
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
Follow US
©2023 || All rights reserved SONNA
Somali National News Agency > Blog > World News > EU calls for independent inquiry into Greece ‘pushback’ of asylum seekers
World News

EU calls for independent inquiry into Greece ‘pushback’ of asylum seekers

By Khadar Aweys
Last updated: May 23, 2023
3 Min Read
Share

SONNA – EU authorities have called on Greece to conduct an independent investigation into video footage that purports to show the forced expulsion of asylum seekers from its territory.

In a statement on Twitter released the day after Greek elections, the EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, said her officials had written to Athens with a formal request “that this incident be fully and independently investigated”.

She recalled a meeting she held with the Greek government a year ago when she “made clear that there [was] no place for illegal deportations” and said the European Commission was ready to take “formal steps, as appropriate” without elaborating.

The video footage, filmed by an Austrian activist on Lesbos and published by the New York Times last Friday, shows 12 people – men, women and children – being taken out of a van on the island, before being towed out to sea and abandoned on an inflatable raft. The paper subsequently interviewed 11 of the asylum seekers at a detention centre in Izmir on the Turkish coast and used the coordinates of other vessels to verify the footage.

“We didn’t expect to survive on that day,” Naima Hassan Aden, a 27-year-old from Somalia, who was forced out of Greece with her six-month-old baby, told the paper. “When they were putting us on the inflatable raft, they did so without any mercy.”

 

The Greek government, which did not immediately comment on the video, has insisted its migration policy is tough, but fair. The prime minister, Kyriákos Mitsotákis, who on Sunday beat the leftwing opposition, but fell short of an absolute majority, last week said he had protected his country’s borders at land and sea.

A European Commission spokesperson rejected suggestions that the incident had been fuelled by remarks, three years ago, by its president, Ursula von der Leyen, who said Greece was Europe’s “shield” in deterring migrants.

The spokesperson said the commission had been unable to identify whether reports in the New York Times that the boat was paid for by EU funds was accurate.

The Greek government has faced repeated allegations of pushbacks. Previous expulsions at sea have been partly captured on video, but Greek authorities argue they are permitted to repulse undocumented migrants attempting to enter the country’s territory. Independent monitors have pieced together apparent pushbacks from Greek land, but this incident appears to be the first such video footage.

Source: The Guardian

Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Copy Link Print

MORE NEWS

Official Reopening of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives

CultureEducationLocal News
November 23, 2024

Kenya’s small farmers find respite in avocados amid changing climate

NAIROBI(SONNA) As crop diseases and pests rise in Kenya amid a rapidly changing climate that…

March 11, 2023

Galmudug Leaders and Turkish Ambassador Discuss Improving Economic Infrastructure

Mudug, Somalia, SONNA – The Vice President of Galmudug State, Mr. Ali Dahir eid ,…

July 11, 2025

Nimcaan Hilaac appointed to lead Waberi National Band

Mogadishu (SONNA)-Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed…

March 3, 2020

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Italy summit to present vision for African development – PM

The aim of the Italy-Africa summit underway in Rome is to present Italy's idea of development for the African continent…

World News
January 29, 2024

‘We are at war’: More evacuations as Greece battles wildfires

SONNA - Thousands of people have been evacuated from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu as Prime Minister Kyriakos…

World News
July 25, 2023

31 Palestinians are killed heading to a Gaza aid site, witnesses say. Israel denies responsibility

RAFAH, — At least 31 people were killed and over 170 were wounded Sunday as large crowds were on their…

World News
June 7, 2025

Stampede at Ramadan food distribution centre kills 11 in Pakistan

SONNA - A stampede at a Ramadan food distribution centre in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi has killed at least…

World News
April 1, 2023

Somali National News Agency established in 1964. It is one of the main pillars of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.

  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
  • SNTV
  • RADIO MOGADISHU
  • DALKA JOURNAL
  • TOURISM DEPARTMENT

Follow US: 

  • MoICT
  • VILLA SOMALIA
  • OPM SOMALIA

All rights reserved SONNA

©2023

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?