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The Civil Fleet PodcastAuthor: Ben Cowles
Saving lives at sea is not a crime But for the past few years, European states have treated those brave enough to save refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean as if they were breaking the law. Welcome to The Civil Fleet, a podcast by civilfleet.com that focuses on the NGO refugee rescuers in the central Mediterranean and beyond. Language: en Genres: News, News Commentary, Politics Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode 88: Fighting and beating Frontex in Court
Saturday, 11 April, 2026
In this episode we speak with Iftach Cohen, co-founder of Front-LEX, a nonprofit legal organisation challenging EU border violence in court. Iftach is going to tell us about the Alaa Hamoudi case, a Syrian man who was pushed back from Greece to Turkey by the Greek Coastguards in 2020, right under the eyes of the European Border and Coastguard agency, Frontex. He tell us how Front-LEX won this case for Hamoudi at the EU's top court in January, and explains why this landmark legal victory should "benefit all future victims of Frontex's activities, and bring to an end its de facto immunity" in court. Iftach will also tell us about a Frontex's report on the Greek government using Afghan paramilitaries to push people back to Turkey ---Support The Civil Fleet Podcast--- ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social Instagram: thecivilfleet info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com ---Show notes--- For more on Front-Lex, see: front-lex.eu And follow them on BlueSky: front_lex Read Front-Lex's article on the Alaa Hamoudi case: https://front-lex.eu/the-court-of-justice-of-the-european-union-delivers-a-first-legal-victory-in-a-pushback-case-against-frontex-a-landmark-judgment-in-hamoudi-v-frontex/ For more on former Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri, and why he's being investigated for crimes against humanity, read this report in Le Monde: http://lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/03/25/why-former-frontex-chief-fabrice-leggeri-is-under-investigation-for-complicity-in-crimes-against-humanity_6751795_7.html For more on Frontex, see episodes 76, 68, 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast. For more on the Pylos shipwreck, see episodes 60 and 52 (the latter of which has Lighthouse Reports journalist Bashar Deeb) Watch Bashar Deeb's report on Hamoudi's case, here: youtube.com/watch?v=Td5e9Y7U6ZI Check out episodes 3, 4, 9, 16, 25, 26, 28, 35, 53, and 56 for more on Greece For more on Refugees in Libya, see episodes: 79 and 29. You can read Frontex's redacted report on the pushback case in Greece involving Afghan paramilitaries on The Civil Fleet's website, in the post about this article. The quote attributed to the late Tony Benn is: "The way the government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it." Apparently, it was Scottish journalist Neal Ascherson who said it in 1996: "The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared." You can read that here: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-we-teach-children-morality-what-will-we-say-about-the-arms-trade-1325052.html
