"Saving lives cannot be a crime!", says Sarah Mardini

The 26-year-old Syrian was a guest at the IncluZone event taking place in Neumünster Abbey on Tuesday evening. Organised by We Belong and the European Youth Parliament as part of its 8th National Selection Conference, it united 10 youth organisations to discuss the inclusion of refugees in society.

Sarah Mardini lost her home when her family decided to leave Syria in 2015 due to the violence of the war.  First they fled to Turkey, where she and her sister continued towards Greece in an overcrowded dinghy. After the engine failed, the two young women and two men dragged the boat through the Mediterranean until they made it to Lesbos. Their odyssey continued through Europe until they finally obtained refugee status in Berlin.

Marked by her own experience, Sarah decided to help other refugees and returned to Lesbos in 2016. She volunteered for an NGO as a search and rescue swimmer, helping refugees who were attempting to reach Greece on small boats like hers.

When she tried to return to Berlin after two years, she was arrested by Greek police at the airport, who accused her of human trafficking, spying, money laundering and working for a criminal organisation. An indescribable ordeal for the young woman, who spent around 100 days in prison before she was released on bail.

Her case will be tried before a Greek court in two weeks, where she could be sentenced to 25 years in prison. But she won't let that get her down.

Events like the IncluZone debate allow her to tell her story and advocate for other refugees and their rescue. It cannot be that saving people in distress is considered a crime in many European countries and that is risking a prison sentence for helping others, she says.