«I came here to show my solidarity because I am 100% convinced of his innocence.. I know what it means to be prosecuted and convicted when you are innocent. I simply wanted to make a gesture of solidarity for her and for the cause of refugees. Maysoon Majidi She represents the Kurdish cause. She is a human rights activist and she herself finds herself involved in an absurd story.”
Avs MEP Mimmo Lucano said this as he left the prison in Reggio Calabria where he went to meet Maysoon Majidi, the 28-year-old Iranian Kurdish activist arrested in January by the Guardia di Finanza on charges of being the smuggler of a boat with 77 migrants who landed in Crotone on 31 December 2023. Maysoon Majidi was forced to leave Iran in 2019 after participating in protests against the regime where over 1,500 people died. She fled to Iraqi Kurdistan continuing her activism for Kurdish and Iranian women but she also had to leave Iraq because she was also persecuted there and for this reason she embarked to reach Europe. In Crotone she was arrested following the testimonies of two migrants. While waiting for the trial that will resume in September, the activist has always denied the accusations, saying that she always remained below deck and that she asked to go up on the deck of the boat because she felt ill, where she argued with another woman who, before leaving, had taken all the cell phones.
“I encountered the phenomenon of smuggling – Lucano added – even before becoming mayor of Riace. I think it is completely invented and that they need to find someone to identify as responsible for something that in reality is not so. They need someone on which to build this accusatory theorem to justify actions that are not worthy of justice. It is not news that smugglers are identified in an approximate manner. There is no respect for human rights if a person, like Maysoon Majidi, finds herself suffering all this”.