An unresolved legal wrangle has left the chief officer of the general cargo ship Aman detained on board at the Suez anchorage in Egypt since July 2017 after a court made him the ship’s legal guard. This means he can’t leave her – and the stalled sale of the ship suggests that she can’t leave him.
Mohammad Aisha is without power or light. He swims to shore for basics like food and water, risking his life every time he does so. He swims to collect them, and he is forced to swim back. According to the law, the Aman is his problem, and his problem alone. At least until it’s someone else’s.
Only action by the Egyptian port authorities can free him. They have a range of practical options they can take to get Aisha home to Syria, but as yet none have been taken up, according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
The rest of the crew went home in September 2019. Since then, Aisha has been alone (effectively in solitary confinement), says the organisation.
There is however a ray of hope. “The latest information we have is that the ship will be open to sale on the 24th of March. Everyone is hopeful a buyer will snap it up and move things along for this seafarer. This can’t go on.”
