Somali migrant appeals sentence

A Somali migrant serving life in prison for people smuggling appeared in court Monday to appeal his sentence, in a case backed by a group of European Parliament members who say he was wrongfully convicted.

Mohammad Hanad Abdi was sentenced to 142 years in prison in 2021 after being convicted following a deadly crossing in a dinghy from Turkey to the nearby Greek island of Lesvos the previous year.

Abdi said he had only steered the dinghy after it had been abandoned by a Turkish smuggler during the crossing. Two people drowned when the vessel took on water while 33 others were rescued. Many of the survivors backed the Somali man's account of events, according to Abdi's lawyers.

The case has brought attention to draconian sentencing guidelines in Greece introduced in recent years as part of an effort to fight illegal migration into the European Union.

A...