New Delhi: A Turkish court has sentenced three men to 125 years in prison for their part in the drowning of two-year-old boy Alan Kurdi in 2015, whose death became a symbol of the European refugee crisis and sufferings caused by the Syrian war.
A poignant photograph of the Syrian toddler’s body facedown on a Turkish beach had grabbed headlines across the world in 2015. The image went viral on social media too, with the Turkish hashtag “#flotsam of humanity”.
The men, identified as Cebrail E, Ecevit Bulent G and Ali Can. S, were sentenced by the Bodrum High Criminal Court Friday (13 March) for “killing with eventual intent”. However, their exact role in the death of the Syrian refugee hasn’t been confirmed.
Alan died along with his five-year-old brother Galip, mother Rihan and two other refugees when a boat carrying 14 migrants had capsized on their way to the Greek island of Kos. His father, Abdullah, is the only surviving member of the immediate family.
Reacting to the conviction, Alan’s aunt Tima Kurdi said the sentence has brought some mixed feelings. “What can I say? Yes, I am very happy. But it’s not going to help. It’s not going to bring my family back,” she said.
Tima added that human traffickers were taking advantage of refugees fleeing from conflict zones. “They only care about making money.”
“The way it works is, the smugglers don’t charge for children but it’s an average of $2,000 per person,” she said.
Over 6.7 million Syrians have fled since 2011
The three men who were sentenced for Alan’s drowning were reportedly organisers of a trafficking ring. They were captured by Turkish security forces in the southern part of Adana in the country.
In 2016, two Syrian men called Muwafakah Alabash, 36, and Asem Alfred, 35, were convicted of smuggling refugees in the same case.
According to estimates by the United Nations, more than 6.7 million Syrians have fled the country since 2011.
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