Two convicted of people smuggling over Alan Kurdi's death
#RefugeesTwo Syrians found guilty over death of Kurdish three-year-old, whose image became symbol of Mediterranean refugee crisis
A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrians to four years in prison for people smuggling over the deaths of five people last September including Alan Kurdi, the Kurdish three-year-old from Syria who became a symbol of the Mediterranean refugee crisis, and his five-year-old brother.
Mufawaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad were tried in Bodrum, western Turkey, and convicted of people smuggling on the Aegean route from Turkey to Greece.
The pair originally faced up to 35 years in prison for causing five deaths “through deliberate negligence".
Alan Kurdi drowned along with his brother, Galip, their mother and two others when the boat in which they were attempting to reach Greece capsized.
The case caught public attention after a photo of his body on the beach was featured on newspaper front pages.
Abdullah Kurdi, Alan's father and the only survivor of the incident, was also tried in absentia by Turkey after being accused of being an organiser of the smuggling, which he denied.
“If I was a people smuggler, why would I put my family in the same boat as the other people? I paid the same amount to the people smugglers," he told MailOnline.
"I lost my family, I lost my life, I lost everything, so let them say whatever they want."
Kurdi, who now lives in Iraq, had previously told the Turkish Dogan news agency about the moment the boat capsized.
“I was holding my wife’s hand, but the children slipped through my hands,” he said. “We tried to cling to the small boat, but it was deflating. It was dark and everyone was screaming. I couldn’t make my voice heard to my wife and kids.”
Alan Kurdi's death sparked outrage internationally over the failure of the EU to address the issue of the ever-swelling number of refugees and migrants amassing on Europe's borders.
More than 3,700 were reported to have drowned making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing during 2015, according to the International Migration Organisation.
