46 irregular immigrants who have been stranded at sea on the Spanish trawler Francisco y Catalina, were yesterday flown to Spain, following their arrival at Hay Wharf base yesterday just after 3pm.

The immigrants had been picked up by the Spanish trawler in Libya’s search and rescue area, and had requested to enter a Maltese port on Saturday 15 July. The Maltese government had refused entry and said that Malta was not obliged to take in the immigrants since they were picked up closer to Libya than Malta.

In the past few days, an agreement had been struck between Spanish and Maltese authorities, and the plan was to allow the trawler to berth in Malta, while two Spanish military planes would fly the immigrants to Spain.

On Thursday, the vessel was stalled just outside territorial waters, around 12 nautical miles southeast of Malta and was waiting for the go-ahead to enter Malta. There were apparent diplomatic clearances which needed to be solved however, before it could be allowed to enter.

Disputes were finally solved and the trawler was expected to arrive at Hay Wharf at around 2pm yesterday. Police and army officials started gathering at the base at around 1.15pm but it was later announced that the trawler would not reach Hay Wharf before 3pm.

AFM vessel Melita 2 and a patrol boat escorted the trawler into harbour. The immigrants, who seemed hesitant to disembark, were taken to the airport in two police buses, although five of them were kept in Malta, since they will later be sent to Morocco, following an agreement with the European Commission.

A pregnant woman, a mother and a child, who were airlifted from the trawler on Tuesday evening to receive medical assistance, were among the 46 immigrants who were flown back to Spain yesterday.

The first plane took off at 5.05pm and was scheduled to stop in Crotone, Italy before flying to Barcelona. The other plane left some time later and was scheduled to land in Madrid. The Spanish authorities then had to dispatch the immigrants to the different countries who formed part of the agreement – Spain, Andorra and Italy.

The media was not allowed any further than 20 metres away from where the planes were “for security and safety reasons”, an AFM official said. AFM Commander Brigadier Carmel Vassallo gave his comments to the press following the operation, which he said was simple and orderly. “Following cooperation between Maltese and Spanish authorities this week, the operation progressed smoothly,” he said.

UNHCR official Paolo Artini said that there were very big issues with Libya and none of the immigrants will be going there. The United Nations agency was trying to seek help from Holland to find solutions for those immigrants who were scheduled to be sent to Libya, Mr Artini explained.

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A Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo yesterday morning upheld an application filed by a number of immigrants on board the Spanish trawler who said they did not want to be sent to Libya. But later on yesterday, he rejected the same application after having received the attorney general’s reply.

The application was filed by 48 of the 51 irregular immigrants on board the Francisco y Catalina in the early hours of Friday morning. They requested the court to grant them permission not to be sent to Libya because there, they said, their fundamental human rights would not be guaranteed because Libya is not a signatory of the United Nations’ Convention on refugees.

The application, which was signed by the Dr Michael Camilleri, was filed against the prime minister, the foreign affairs minister, the justice and home affairs minister and principal immigration officer.

At first, Mr Justice Caruana Demajo upheld the immigrants’ request but later rejected it after receiving the attorney general’s reply to the application.

In his reply, the attorney general said the court could not uphold the request since the immigrants who filed the application were not in Maltese territory and therefore the court had no jurisdiction over them. Moreover, he said, none of the irregular immigrants were going to be sent to Libya as they alleged.