Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 24th 2020
Case name: 20201124-AEG728
Situation: 28 travellers arrived to Samos, illegally pushed back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea
Summary On Tuesday the 24th of November at 07.15h CET the Alarm Phone was called by a group of travellers who had reached Samos by themselves in the night. They were 28 people, including seven women and a baby. The travellers told us that they were stranded in the mountains, cold and without food and water, but that they were afraid of contacting the authorities out of fear of being pushed back. We later learned that this fear was based on the fact that several of the travellers had previously experienced being pushed back after reaching Samos. We stayed in contact with the travellers during the day and gave them information about how to reach the Greek authorities. We received a list of names and birth dates of the stranded travellers and forwarded this to the Greek authorities as well as the UNHCR, informing them that the travellers wished to seek asylum. We further had several phone calls with UNHCR, urging them to intervene to make sure that the refugees’ right to seek asylum was respected.
At 14.49 CET the travellers informed us that the police was arriving to where they were. We then again tweeted about the case. We further tried to call the police on Samos, but were at first not able to reach the police. The port police informed us that they had no information about the case. After this, we were no longer able to reach the travellers.

At 22.22 CET a relative of the travellers called us. They told us that they spoke to the travellers two hours earlier, and that the travellers at this time were at sea, in the process of being pushed back. At 22.30 the relative forwarded us the position of the travellers showing that they were back in Turkey. One of the travellers told us after the push back: "This not first time this has happened to me this month it is the second time that I have been on this island I have clear documents to prove what happened but I have no help because we are refugees."
According to the relative, the travellers reported having been beaten and having their possessions stolen when he spoke to them from the police station.

Tweets of Alarm Phone on this case:
11.55: “+++23 people stranded in Samos+++ We have been alerted by a group of 23 people from Somalia who are stuck in the south of the Island. They need protection and are urgently calling for help. Authorities and @UNHCRGreece have been informed about the group.” https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1331189598865805312