Ten illegal immigrants given jail terms

EIGHT Iraqis and two Syrians were yesterday sentenced to two months in jail by the Famagusta District Court for illegal entry into the republic.

The immigrants, aged from 24 to 41, were arrested on Saturday shortly after they landed at Protaras, in the Paralimni area.

The Iraqis asked the court not to deport them to Iraq, saying they opposed Saddam Hussein and they faced execution if they returned.

“We’d rather stay here and serve life in prison than go back,” one told the court.

Another said his father had been executed in Iraq and his family was persecuted and did not have enough food or medicine.

The Iraqis asked the republic to grant them political asylum.

The two Syrians told the court they had come to the island to work because they had big families to take care of.

Sentencing them, Judge Yiasemis Yiasemi said illegal immigrants create many problems, social and economic, and the penalties should serve to prevent similar situations.

Meanwhile, 12 alleged illegal immigrants who were arrested in Ayia Napa on Tuesday were remanded in custody for six days by the Famagusta District Court. A further 33 immigrants were detained on a boat at the fishing shelter in Ayia Napa.

Among them were six women, two of them pregnant, and 13 children aged between one and 16. The 45 were arrested after one was spotted wandering in the area by a soldier. He notified police who dispatched several search teams to the area. None of those arrested had any papers or money on them.

The immigrants, mainly Syrian Kurds and Iraqis, arrived on the island in small fishing boats, police said. The court was told the immigrants had paid to be taken to Italy or Crete.

Famagusta Police Chief Christakis Katsikidis, however, said their destination had been Cyprus from the beginning.

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