Solomon’s investigation–conducted in collaboration with El País, Die Tageszeitung, ARIJ, and The New Humanitarian–reveals that Egypt informed the Greek authorities that the nine survivors of the Pylos shipwreck were not members of the smuggling network. Yet, the men stayed behind bars for a year.
*First Published on WeAreSolomon
They were not smugglers – and the Greek authorities knew it. In the immediate aftermath of the deadly Pylos shipwreck, Greek authorities arrested nine Egyptian survivors, accusing them of smuggling migrants who had set off from Libya to Italy.
Relying on statements that bear evidence of tampering, the authorities also blamed the nine for causing the shipwreck that claimed the lives of over 500 people.
Yet within a month, evidence emerged suggesting that the nine Egyptians were not part of the smuggling ring behind the tragedy.
A months-long investigation led by Solomon in collaboration with the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the largest investigative journalism network in the Arab world, and published in El País, Die Tageszeitung, and The New Humanitarian, uncovered key findings:
- The Egyptian side gave the Greek authorities a detailed list of the ring’s members and their distinct roles. The nine survivors were not among them.
- The Egyptian side shared further findings of its investigations, which confirmed that the nine were not ring members.
- In official statements to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office, Egypt’s top official for combating migrant smuggling expressed with certainty that, based on investigations, the nine were passengers.
- The official described the nine as “victims” of the real smugglers, just like the other survivors. And he stressed that the nine defendants had also paid between 140,000-160,000 Egyptian pounds for the trip (2,680-3,065 euros).
Despite this, the nine remained in Greek custody for nearly a year, facing potential sentences of hundreds of years in prison. Ultimately, a Kalamata court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to try the case, leading to their release.
The investigation highlights a troubling contradiction: while the Greek government publicly lauded its cooperation with Egypt in combating smuggling networks, it ignored critical intelligence from Egyptian authorities. According to Egyptian documents, Greece even declined to provide requested evidence to support the investigation into one of the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwrecks in recent years.
Investigations by the Egyptian authorities
Solomon has extensively covered the Pylos shipwreck with a series of investigations and reports. In collaboration with ARIJ, El País, TAZ, and TNH, Solomon gained access to more than 700 pages of internal documents from the Egyptian Public Prosecution and the Egyptian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior. Together, these documents form the complete dossier of the Egyptian authorities’ investigation into the smuggling ring behind the migrant transport.
The documents confirm that by July 2023—just a month after the shipwreck—Greek authorities were aware that the Egyptian investigation did not implicate the nine survivors arrested in Greece as members of the smuggling ring.
When the news of the sinking of the fishing trawler reached Egypt in mid-June 2023, the manhunt in the country began immediately. According to the documents, by 25 June 2023, the Egyptian authorities had already identified 31 people, while the arrest of a low-level member introduced the names of five more Egyptians believed to be involved in the ring.
The Egyptian Public Prosecution, instructed to treat the case as a top priority, worked alongside the Directorate General for Combating Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants within the Interior Ministry.
On July 8, 2023, Egypt’s Attorney General formally requested mutual legal assistance from the Greek Ministry of Justice, citing a bilateral agreement on criminal cooperation between the two countries, signed on December 22, 1986.
Egypt shared all the information it had gathered on the structure and staffing of the smuggling ring, including the names of the identified network members and their roles. None of the nine arrested in Greece were among the 36 members identified.
In return, Egypt asked Greece to provide findings from its investigations, details about the circumstances of the shipwreck, and testimonies from survivors and defendants to “reach the truth in this crime.”
By the end of August, Greece had yet to respond. Egypt’s Public Prosecution followed up with an urgent request, again pressing for the findings of the Greek investigation.
The Testimony of Egypt’s Top Anti-Migrant-Smuggling Official
Of the 36 individuals identified as potential members of the smuggling network, Egyptian police managed to arrest 23. The remaining 13 fled to Libya.
On August 30, 2023, a month and a half after the shipwreck, the Egyptian Public Prosecution summoned the head of the Directorate for Combating Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants to testify about the ongoing investigation.
According to transcripts of his testimony, reviewed by Solomon, the prosecution specifically questioned him about any connections between the nine defendants detained in Greece and the network members arrested in Egypt.
The official firmly stated that the nine were not part of the smuggling ring. “Investigations have established that the nine accused in Greece are victims,” he testified, emphasizing that they were like the other migrants being transported and had no ties to the criminal organization.
He further explained that the connection between the nine survivors and the smuggling ring was limited to their recruitment and deception. The ring had misled the nine about job opportunities in Europe and facilitated their travel, he said. He confirmed that, like the other passengers, the nine paid between 140,000–160,000 Egyptian pounds (€2,680–€3,065).
Additionally, in their statements to the Egyptian authorities, the members of the network arrested in Egypt also explicitly deny that the nine Egyptians were their associates.
Greece Refuses to Assist
Solomon’s investigation reveals that the Greek Ministry of Justice forwarded Egypt’s findings to the Kalamata office handling the case against the nine survivors.
Despite this, internal Egyptian documents state that Greece did not respond promptly to Egypt’s second request for mutual legal assistance. When Greece eventually replied, the response was negative.
During an internal meeting on September 20, 2023, the Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that Greece had declined Egypt’s request, stating it could not be granted “at this time” because the case had been referred to the competent court in Greece. It remains unclear whether Greece provided further responses later.
Solomon and its partners reached out to the relevant Greek authorities for comment on these findings but received no reply by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, at the end of August 2023, an Egyptian diplomatic mission visited Greece to meet with eight of the accused held in Nafplion prison (the ninth was detained in Avlonas).
A memo prepared by the mission, led by Egypt’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs, alleged that Greek authorities blamed the nine Egyptians “in an attempt to divert attention away from their own role” in the shipwreck.
The memo also criticized Greek authorities for delaying the examination of survivors’ phones, stating that this evidence could challenge the official narrative presented about the circumstances of the incident.
In prison
On June 14, 2023, Sa’edia Adel was at home in a small village in Al-Sharqia Governorate, about 80 km from Cairo, when she saw on Facebook that the boat carrying her son Ahmed had capsized off the coast of Pylos.“I screamed; I couldn’t believe it. We searched online for pictures of survivors and the dead,” she told Solomon and iMedD last May from the modest home where six family members share two rooms, a small kitchen, and a toilet.
The family scoured the internet for photos of survivors, enlarging images to look for Ahmed. In a photo from the Mayan Queen yacht, which transported 104 survivors to the port of Kalamata, they recognized Ahmed’s cousin Hussam. Wrapped in a blanket, Hussam had lost his clothes while trying to stay afloat.
Two days later, local media published photos of nine men arrested after the shipwreck, later dubbed the “Pylos 9.” Among them was Ahmed, his face partially obscured in a Greek police patrol car. Sa’edia recognized him immediately—by his hands.
The revelation devastated the family. Sa’edia’s health deteriorated; she was bedridden for four months. Wearing only black, she watched Ahmed’s father cry for the first time in his life. Ahmed called from prison whenever he could. The family pooled resources to support his wife, Hoda, and their three children, aged three, nine, and 14.
Ahmed, then 32, had worked in construction like his father. His decision to leave Egypt was driven by desperation. After losing a newborn son to a respiratory condition—unable to afford the incubator available only in private hospitals—Ahmed became determined to leave and secure a better future for his family.
Hoda recalled how they sold her wedding ring and Ahmed’s mother’s jewelry to pay smugglers 140,000 Egyptian pounds. They also borrowed from neighbors, incurring debts they still struggle to repay.
Ahmed left his village with his cousin Hussam and his friend Abdullah, traveling to Libya, where they spent two weeks before the sea journey to Italy. In a final audio message sent before boarding the ill-fated fishing boat, Ahmed reassured his family: “Don’t worry about us. Me, Hussam, and Abdullah are fine.”
Abdullah did not survive the shipwreck.
“I Communicate to Pay”
As part of Solomon’s joint investigation with ARIJ, El País, TAZ, and TNH, reporters examined dozens of voice and text messages exchanged between Ahmed’s family and two smugglers in Egypt and Libya.
In one message, Ahmed’s cousin says: “I want to contact you to give you the money.” The cousin, whom reporters met in Egypt, is seen arranging payment with a network member in Libya for Ahmed, himself, and their friend.
Reporters also reviewed messages and visual evidence placing Ahmed in a warehouse in Libya. There, migrants were crammed for several days or weeks before boarding the fishing boat. A man believed to be a smuggler contacted Ahmed’s relatives, requesting payment and confirming Ahmed’s presence at the warehouse.
Ahead of the trial of the nine accused, scheduled for May 21, 2024, the defense team gathered substantial evidence proving the defendants were not part of the smuggling ring. They also amassed evidence concerning the shipwreck’s cause, which independent media investigations, including one led by Solomon, attributed to a Greek Coast Guard vessel’s attempt to tow the overcrowded fishing boat.
Yet, this evidence was never publicly presented. The Kalamata court ruled it did not have the jurisdiction to try the case, citing the fact that the sinking occurred in international waters and acquitted all nine men.
Defense lawyer Efi Doussi questioned why the same plea over lack of jurisdiction, submitted ten months earlier, had been rejected. She noted, “The decision, although legally correct, benefits the interests of the Greek state.”
She further added, “What exactly happened and why a legal procedure was not followed remain undisclosed in a public trial before thousands of journalists [and] dozens of observers.”
“I ran down the street without my headscarf”
While anxiously awaiting the trial of the nine survivors on May 21, 2024, Ahmed’s family held little hope for a positive outcome.
When Ahmed’s mother heard the news of her son’s acquittal, she ran into the street without her headscarf on, shouting: “My son was acquitted, my son was acquitted!”.
Then she removed the black mourning clothes she had worn for eleven months and treated the neighbors to soft drinks in celebration. While Ahmed was in custody, his family frequently posted on Facebook, insisting that he was innocent. They described him as a hardworking, honest man caught in an unjust ordeal. Upon hearing the news, the family happily took pictures and posted them on social media.
Later, in the family’s tiny kitchen, Ahmed’s mother prepared rice pudding—a traditional Egyptian dish to mark life’s happiest moments, such as weddings or the birth of a child. For Ahmed’s family, it symbolized more than just joy; it marked the end of a relentless ordeal and the hope of starting anew.