Court rules against release of Kurdish activist Madjidi

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 19 - A court in Crotone has ruled against the release from prison of Maysoon Madjidi, a Kurdish activist arrested on December 31 last year in the Calabrian city for allegedly skippering a migrant boat that landed on a beach in nearby Gabella with 77 passengers.
    Her defence attorney had requested for Majidi to be placed under house arrest - a request also reiterated by the defendant during a five-hour hearing Wednesday of the criminal trial chaired by judge Edoardo D'Ambrosio.
    Madjidi, 29, is in prison because she is accused by two of the 77 passengers of the migrant boat, an Iraqi and an Iranian, of having aided the ship's captain, Akturk Ufuk, who confessed to skippering the boat and has agreed to a fast-track trial.
    The activist, who is currently detained in Reggio Calabria, repeated that she was innocent during a hearing attended by dozens of activists who wanted to support the Kurdish artist.
    Madjiidi said she lived in the basement of a building with the other passengers before boarding the boat and claimed she continued to ask for money to pay for her trip until three days prior to departure before requesting a loan to the Komala party from the Kurdish region of Iran of which she is a member in order to depart for Italy.
    Her attorney Giancarlo Liberati also asked during the hearing why finance police were unable to track down the two witnesses for the prosecution while journalists reporting on the case "found then in England and Germany".
    Liberati said he had been in touch with security officials but, "as of today, we have no news" on where the key witnesses accusing his client are. (ANSA).