Naples, Italy: The Court of Naples has lifted the 45-day detention of the Sea-Watch 5 and suspended a €7,500 fine. The sanctions were imposed on the allegation that Sea-Watch had failed to communicate with Libyan authorities during a rescue operation in August. Sea-Watch considers the measures unlawful and challenged them in court. In an interim decision, the court followed Sea-Watch’s arguments and suspended both sanctions. The decision removes the blockade that has kept the Sea-Watch 5 from carrying out rescue operations.
The sanctions against Sea-Watch were imposed following a rescue on 13 August, in which the crew of the Sea-Watch 5 rescued six people from the water in international waters. After being ordered to the distant port of Naples by the Italian authorities, the crew was accused upon arrival of having failed to inform the Libyan authorities about the rescue. The ship was subsequently detained.
Sea-Watch welcomes the court’s decision as the latest in a series of successful legal challenges to blockades imposed under the so-called Piantedosi decree, which requires rescue crews to comply with Italian authorities’ instructions to communicate with the so-called Libyan coastguard during rescue operations. Sea-Watch is part of the Justice Fleet, an alliance of civilian search-and-rescue organisations that rejects any attempt to force rescue crews to collaborate with Libyan actors implicated in serious human rights abuses.
Sea-Watch spokesperson Julia Winkler comments:
“This decision is a blow to a law that has been illegitimate from the outset. Libya is not a safe place. The so-called Libyan coastguard is part of the violence people are fleeing, not a legitimate rescue actor. The EU’s cooperation with Libya on migration deterrence is a crime against human rights. Full stop.“
Legal victories cannot recover lost rescue time. Since 2023, Italian authorities have detained civilian rescue vessels more than 40 times, costing over 900 operational days. The detention of the Sea-Watch 5 was the eighth such measure imposed in 2026 alone. By the middle of September, civilian rescue vessels had already been prevented from operating for more than 200 days this year.
These are days in which rescue ships were forced to remain in port while people continued to die at sea: in 2026, more than 1,700 people have already died or gone missing on Mediterranean routes. More than 10,000 people have lost their lives in the Mediterranean during Giorgia Meloni’s term of office
