
Charities running migrant rescue ships accused of collusion with human traffickers, "facing 20 years in prison"
CBSN
Charities running migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean faced a pre-trial hearing in Sicily Saturday over alleged collusion with human traffickers after a controversial probe that involved mass wiretapping.
Twenty-one suspects, including crew members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and German NGO Jugend Rettet rescue ships, are accused of "aiding and abetting unauthorized entry into Italy" in 2016 and 2017.
"Our crews rescued over 14,000 people in distress from unseaworthy and overcrowded boats... and are now facing 20 years in prison," Kathrin Schmidt, who sailed with Jugend Rettet's ship Iuventa, said ahead of the hearing.

It appeared on Wednesday that President Trump likely still has some deal-making to do before he can claim to have brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the devastating war in Gaza. Mr. Trump said in a Tuesday evening social media post that Israel had "agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day ceasefire, and he called on Hamas to accept the deal, warning the U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group that "it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE."