On Saturday 28th March 2026, we marked the 7th anniversary from the unjust arrest of the three young men, now known as the El Hiblu 3. Abdalla, Amara and Kader arrived in Malta were rescued from a sinking rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
On the 13th of April 2024, the Coalition for the El Hiblu 3 presented Abdalla Bari, Amara Kromah, and Abdul Kader with the Human Rights Defenders Award at the University of Malta, in Valletta. The three, known as the El Hiblu 3, received this award for the bravery and solidarity they showed when facing the threat of a pushback to Libya in 2019.
We were devastated and angry at the Appeal Court’s decision on 22 January 2025. The Court rejected the appeal by the El Hiblu 3’s lawyers arguing that the matter of jurisdiction, among others, should be considered at trial. The case will now likely continue to jury trial, although it is yet unclear at what speed that will happen.
In the ‘Ballad of the El Hiblu 3’, Gabriel Schembri beautifully depicts what the El Hiblu 3 have been through and the absurdity of the accusations against them. Music by Francesco Frendo, video by Katel Delia, recordiang by Zir Portelli & 97 Notes.
On 26-27 March 2022, we organised a Free the El Hiblu 3 conference in Valletta on the third anniversary of the arrival of the El Hiblu tanker in Malta. More than 80 participants came together from local and transnational organisations.
Published in 2022, ’Free the El Hiblu 3’ is an edited collection that documents the trial against Abdalla, Amara, and Kader. It is the first book to bring together testimony and analysis from the El Hiblu 3 themselves, alongside their lawyers, fellow travellers, members of the Coalition and the Freedom Commission, and other allies.
The video documents the arrival of the El Hiblu 3 and their fellow travellers to Malta. It explores the criminalisation that Abdalla, Amara, and Kader were immediately exposed to, and draws on testimony from those who made this journey.
In early 2020, we collected testimonies of nine of the 108 survivors, who shared their experiences of the situation on the El Hiblu 1 oil tanker. They all declared their solidarity with the three accused teenagers, Abdalla, Amara, and Kader. These testimonies were a fundamental beginning of our solidarity campaign with the El Hiblu 3.
Abdalla, Amara and Kader arrived in Malta in March 2019, having been rescued from a sinking rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. At just 15, 16 and 19 years old, their dream of arriving in Europe had come to pass, yet a new nightmare was just beginning.