Last Sept 2 bodies washed up on Turkey's Aegean coast. Witnesses & open source evidence confirm that the drowned men, one from Ivory Coast, the other Cameroonian, had been on the Greek island of Samos only days before.
As part of a European media consortium, we investigated, finding evidence to suggest that the pair drowned after being thrown overboard near the Turkish coast, in a new tactic from the Greek coastguard 
Greece has rescued tens of 1000s of asylum seekers in the Aegean & claims its recent tough stance saves live. But the drop in crossings was achieved by detaining arrivals & pushing them back on engine-less life rafts
Whistleblowers in the Greek coastguard told @LHreports, @derspiegel, @guardian @Mediapart that they're running short of these life rafts: “Tenders for new ones might raise the question of what happened to the older ones”
Here's what we know: 15th Sept 36 people arrived on Samos after crossing from Turkey. They're stopped by authorities who fire warning shots. 7/36 people remain hidden, the rest are moved to a Greek coastguard vessel.
On board, the asylum seekers were stripped-searched, women had their vaginas searched for money & the group is then transferred to 2 life rafts near Turkish waters @Mediapart writes mediapart.fr/journal/intern…
Greek authorities confirmed to this investigative consortium that on day of pushback they had sent a warning to Turkey that 2 rafts were spotted in Turkish waters.
Visuals from Turkish coastguard show that the people on these 2 rafts were the same individuals who were on Samos that same morning. @derspiegel spiegel.de/ausland/griech…
Among those who evaded initial capture were Sidy Keita from Ivory Coast, Cameroonians Didier Martial Kouamou Nana & Ibrahim. Only Ibrahim would survive.
Ibrahim told us that they were captured on Sept 16, driven by car to a port, put on a speedboat he identified as a Rafnar-class one used by the Greek coastguard.
They were then taken out to sea towards Turkey & thrown overboard without life vests. Our team verified his accounts using open source evidence. Fully breakdown on methodology here
https://twitter.com/JackSapoch/status/1494246063028551680?s=20&t=CoJoNXhrzXkGupWE23kY3g
Sidy, who had left Ivory Coast after taking part in anti-government demos, drowned. Ibrahim, a former navy recruit in Cameroon swam ashore. He found Sidy but couldn't resuscitate him on the beach.
Didier’s body was found 2 days later, floating in the sea not far from the location where Keita & Ibrahim came ashore
This isn’t an isolated incident. Since May last year, asylum seekers told NGOs & Turkish authorities of at least 29 instances where people were allegedly thrown overboard & told to swim to Turkey. theguardian.com/global-develop…
This months long investigation was put together by: @TomasStatius @stluedke @ElisaPerrigueur @g_christides @katymfallon @klaasvandijken @sebnemarsu @SchmitzFlorian_
For a full list of publications by our media partners under this investigation visit our website lighthousereports.nl/investigation/…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
