By Bond Robertson 
In October 2020, a fishing boat carrying 22 refugees en route from northern France to Great Britain capsized. During the rescue operation in the English Channel, many refugees were rescued from the sea, but a family of five from Iran was not so lucky.
The five family members drowned. So did one-and-a-half-year-old Artin Iranjad, who was taken by current and found at the water’s edge in Karmoy in Rogaland on January 1, 2021.
Four men have now been sentenced in France for human trafficking and negligent homicide. Writes Stavanger Aftenblad.
The two defendants are from Denmark
One of the accused is a 38-year-old Iranian man living in Vyborg, Denmark. He was previously suspected of being part of a network of people smugglers transporting refugees from France to Britain across the English Channel. He writes that excursions are described as dangerous Danish TV 2.
The 38-year-old has been imprisoned in France since September 2021.
The other is from Denmark, a 33-year-old Iranian man who lives in Hedensted municipality.
The other two also have an Iranian background. Everyone pleaded not guilty.
Aftenbladet wrote that the prosecutor in the case, Amelie Le Salt, criticized the men in harsh terms. She said that they lacked respect for human life and that they took advantage of desperate people in cold blood.
Boy at the water’s edge
When the 15-month-old boy was found at the water’s edge in a vineyard, he was initially unrecognizable.
In July 2021, the identity was confirmed to be Artin Irannezhad. Artin was the youngest in the Iranian family of five.