Eritrean man may face 20-year Dutch sentence for smuggling

Dutch authorities are looking to enact a 20-year prison sentence on an Eritrean man suspected to be behind a ‘brutal’ migrant smuggling network, Africanews plus agencies reported on November 20th.

Forty-two-year old Amanuel Walid – often going by the name of Tewelde Goitom – began being tried by the Dutch court earlier this month. He was said to be behind a migrant network operation that would involve taking East African migrants to Europe via Libya, according to prosecutors.

Reportedly, Goitom’s network would often be involved in detaining these migrants and torturing them in Libyan warehouses, demanding large sums of money from their relatives. It was also claimed that these ransom tactics would involve leaving the victim near the telephone, where family members being called by Goitom’s group could hear their abducted relative being tortured in the background.

It had also been reported by witnesses that victims were exposed to inhumane conditions, experiencing beatings and sexual violence. Numerous people are suspected to have died from these ransoms.

Goitom was said to have been extradited from Ethiopia in 2022 for similar crimes, however he has claimed that the prosecutors have the wrong person. Despite his insistence, however, his prosecutors say that his identity has been confirmed by hundreds of victims.

Despite existing global immigration bans, Eritrea has a large refugee population, with many migrating out of the country due to its authoritarian practices as a state. It is estimated that approximately 28,000 people of Eritrean descent currently reside in the Netherlands.

The court case is set to be concluded in January 2026, with judges delivering the verdict on Goitom’s charges for then.

Africanews plus agencies, Maghrebi.org