The German captain of a humanitarian rescue ship risked 10 years' imprisonment when she rammed an Italian police motorboat off the coast of Lampedusa on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Carola Rackete was captaining a ship carrying 40 migrants who were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea from an unseaworthy vessel launched from Libya when her ship was blocked by the much smaller police boat. No one was injured.
Rackete reportedly was tired of waiting for permission to dock after 17 days at sea and a multi-day standoff with Italian authorities. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is known for his anti-immigrant stances, refused to let Rackete's ship dock in Lampedusa until other European Union countries agreed to take in the migrants on board — Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Portugal pledged to do so on Friday.
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Rackete was arrested for her actions, which excited "jeering" onlookers, The Associated Press reports, though others applauded when the migrants disembarked. The migrants reportedly hugged the ship's crew for their rescue efforts.
In addition to the possibility of a decade-long sentence, Rackete could also face a fine as high 50,000 euros — the result of a recent Salvini-backed law cracking down on private rescue vessels, AP reports.
The arrest, like the larger debate surrounding immigration, has split opinions across Europe — the leaders of Germany's Green Party and the Protestant Church have thrown their support behind Rackete, while Salvini and a Sicilian prosecutor criticized her for putting lives at risk.
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