Sudanese in Greek Prisons: Inhumane Detention Conditions and Violations during Trials

Monitoring – Moatinoon
Source: InfoMigrants
Over the past year, Greek courts have issued numerous prison sentences against Sudanese migrants accused of smuggling other migrants. This has coincided with a significant increase in the number of Sudanese arrivals to Greece, particularly to the island of Crete. In response, Sudanese migrants in Greece have begun organizing themselves to shed light on what they describe as “inhumane detention conditions” and “violations during trials and arrest procedures.”

“With the arrival of any migrant boat to Crete, the media reports that authorities have arrested two or three smugglers. But what legal procedures are actually followed during arrests and trials?” asks Mustafa Ahmed, a Sudanese activist with the “Metaris Greece” group and the “50 Out of Many” campaign, in an interview with InfoMigrants.

According to Ahmed, he and a group of activists learned last April that around 50 Sudanese nationals were being held in a juvenile detention facility in Athens. “We tried to contact them by sending letters and phone numbers so they could reach us. Once we started receiving calls, we learned that they were accused of smuggling migrants from Libya to Crete—whether by steering the boat, assisting in the sea crossing, or being responsible for the GPS device on board.”

Sudanese Organize Themselves
In response to questions from InfoMigrants, criminal defense lawyer Spiridon Pantadis described the prisons and detention centers where these accused migrants are held, noting that he has worked on several cases involving Sudanese migrants charged with smuggling. “They are detained in correctional facilities where conditions are inhumane, human dignity is violated, and hope is lost. They live day after day in overcrowded cells; some are deprived of education, lack basic necessities and care, and suffer from constant fear and insecurity. Quite simply, there is no justice behind bars.”

According to activists who spoke with the InfoMigrants team, accused migrants are held for at least six months before trial, often in the Avlona and Chania prisons on the island of Crete. Mustafa Ahmed explains, “Chania prison is terrible. There is no soap, no clothes, no healthcare, and no personal hygiene supplies.”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sudanese nationals were the second-largest nationality arriving in Greece by sea last year, after Afghans. However, they were not among the top five nationalities of arrivals in 2024. From the beginning of 2025 until the end of October, 7,343 Sudanese arrived in Greece, most of them to the islands of Crete and Gavdos.

This situation has pushed young Sudanese migrants to organize themselves. Mustafa says, “The Sudanese community in Greece is well organized. Since April, we have created communication groups to exchange information about organizations and help one another. We started with 45 people; now our group includes 950 people spread across islands and cities. Every camp or center has its own group, and there is a nationwide group across Greece.”

Sudanese migrants have also begun organizing hunger strikes to demand the release of what they call “alleged smugglers” and to improve conditions in detention centers and prisons. Mustafa explains, “In October, young people proposed escalating the issue, starting with six individuals going on hunger strike. Today (December 17), we managed to organize a two-day hunger strike in seven centers, involving 65 Sudanese participants. This was done to draw the authorities’ attention and to demand fair trials—or that Sudanese accused of smuggling not be prosecuted at all.”

“Violations During Trials”
Most of the accused do not appoint lawyers due to their lack of knowledge of legal procedures. As a result, the judge appoints a state lawyer at the beginning of the trial session to represent the defendant. Consequently, “the lawyer becomes familiar with the client’s case during the session itself,” Mustafa Ahmed says, criticizing the practice.

Lawyer Spiridon Pantadis explains, “We are facing a troubling phenomenon where cases are built at an alarmingly rapid pace. Courts rely on witnesses based on a single statement from the Coast Guard, without granting the defense the opportunity to question them in an open hearing as part of a genuine adversarial criminal process.”

Pantadis also confirmed testimonies received by the InfoMigrants team regarding the poor quality of oral and written interpretation during arrest and trial procedures. He stated, “Whether at the pretrial stage or during court proceedings themselves, the level of interpretation is extremely low and fails to meet the minimum requirements of a fair judicial process conducted by the state. This systematic deficiency undermines the effective exercise of defense rights and deprives the accused of the ability to understand the proceedings and participate in them meaningfully and with full awareness.”

Mustafa Ahmed added that he observed serious violations related to interpreters in court. “Interpreters are not officially registered with the court. Sometimes they are other detainees, translating while their hands are shackled. In today’s hearing, for example (December 17), we intervened and spoke during the session because a very young defendant was being pressured to sign confession papers. The interpreter did not explain to him the consequences of this on his case and his life.”

On December 17, a trial was held for 31 of these young migrants—most of them Sudanese—before the Chania court. At the conclusion of what migrant support organizations in Greece described as a brief trial, 10 Sudanese were sentenced to 10 years in prison, while four Egyptians received life sentences. Hearings for the remaining 17 defendants were postponed to December. The Greek court convicted the migrants on charges of “illegal transportation of irregular migrants.”

Lawyer Pantadis explained that if a person accused of migrant smuggling is convicted without mitigating circumstances, they receive a 25-year prison sentence and effectively serve nearly 16 years. If a reduced sentence is issued, it amounts to 10 years, of which approximately two and a half years are actually served.

Mustafa, along with other activists, is trying to explain certain legal matters and rights to the young men behind bars, such as their right to appeal. “Within 10 days of the verdict, the defendant must submit an appeal. Reconsideration of the case takes between 10 and 12 months,” he says.

These cases are not new. For years, Greek authorities have pursued a policy of criminalizing individuals who steer migrant boats. According to Pantadis, such cases raise “deep ethical and human rights dilemmas.” He asks rhetorically, “Can our legal system—committed to human dignity and the principle of proportionality—tolerate imposing such harsh penalties on individuals who happened, by chance, to be steering the boat instead of remaining among its passengers? Is it compatible with the most basic notions of justice and humanity that young victims of Sudan’s civil war spend their youth deprived of liberty simply because they were denied the opportunities and protection others enjoy as an acquired right?”