VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED INCLUDES GRAPHIC CONTENT THAT SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTURBING
[ GEO ] ZARZIS, TUNISIA
[ Chamsaddin ]My name is Chamsaddin Marzouk.
[ Chamsaddin ]I'm from the town of Zarzis in southern Tunisia.
[ Chamsaddin ]I'm a fisherman.
[ Chamsaddin ]Not much today...
[ Chamsaddin ]Why don't we cast one more time?
[ Chamsaddin ]We're going back to an area seamen call 'the black zone'
or dangerous triangle.
[ Chamsaddin ]Traffickers there smuggle migrants and commit other crimes.
[ Chamsaddin ]We try not to go there, the catch is lousy and we often find floating corpses.
[ Chamsaddin ]Here's a headless man on the shore of Zarzis.
[ Chamsaddin ]These people in Libya... they're suffering.
[ Chamsaddin ]They're being raped, sold, and bought...
[ Chamsaddin ]After that, they board the 'death boats'.
[ Chamsaddin ]We all have to die someday,
but their deaths are really shocking.
[ Chamsaddin ]They die on their way to a new life.
[ Chamsaddin ]It's the job of governments to bury the dead,
but the problem is, where do you find humanity? A state is not a family.
[ Chamsaddin ]I decided to become family for people who don't have one.
FISHER OF MEN
[ Chamsaddin ]I've been finding bodies floating in the sea since 1999
[ Chamsaddin ]Lately, there have been a lot more of them, since 2010.
[ CHAMSADDIN MARZOUK RED CRESCENT VOLUNTEER ]The seas off Zarzis are known for their strong winds and currents.
[ Chamsaddin ]They wash clothes, shoes, planks, and bodies ashore.
[ Chamsaddin ]We discovered a woman and a baby in this boat.
[ Chamsaddin ]They remove the deck so more people can fit in.
[ Chamsaddin ]This is human trafficking,
and it's this that distinguishes the Libyan gangs.
[ Chamsaddin ]They fill the boat to the brim, stuffing people into the hold,
where they die from lack of air, tobacco smoke, or overcrowding.
[ Chamsaddin ]This boat transported 350-370 people.
[ Chamsaddin ]That's why we call them 'death boats'.
[ Chamsaddin ]There are over 50 boats like this here in the gulf.
[ Chamsaddin ]Boats from Libya began to appear during the revolution
when a blockade was established.
[ Chamsaddin ]It was against Gaddafi.
[ Chamsaddin ]Gaddafi used to say he'd flood Europe with migrants.
[ Chamsaddin ]After the revolution, the gangs controlled everything, including human trafficking.
[ Chamsaddin ]The entire Libyan coast, from Tripoli to Tunisia, is involved in smuggling.
[ Chamsaddin ]Burying unidentified bodies is the state's job, but they did it strangely before the revolution.
[ Chamsaddin ]They just dug pits and dumped the bodies in.
[ Chamsaddin ]Due to my own humanitarian principles, I set up a
cemetery that's become known throughout the world.
[ Chamsaddin ]Through our efforts, with no help from the state
or organisations, we bury people in God's name.
[ Chamsaddin ]I named it Al Gurraba: the Cemetery For Unknown, because they really are unknown... outcasts.
[ Chamsaddin ]This is the grave of a woman and her baby.
[ Chamsaddin ]I buried them together, they lie head-to-head.
[ Chamsaddin ]There's half a woman's body buried here.
[ Chamsaddin ]A baby lies here.
[ Chamsaddin ]We brought toys for this child.
[ Chamsaddin ]He'd probably never seen any during his life because of the poverty he lived in in Africa.
[ Chamsaddin ]I often receive letters and phone calls.
[ Chamsaddin ]This cemetery's become well known. The poor Africans cling to hope.
[ Chamsaddin ]They give me a description, but I can't identify anyone without DNA.
[ Chamsaddin ]Rose-Marie was a Nigerian woman. She was 28 years old.
[ Chamsaddin ]She's the only one here whose identity is known.
[ Chamsaddin ]Her friend and a relative gave me her name.
[ Chamsaddin ]Rose-Marie's is just one story of the Cemetery For Unknown.
AMMADI USSA, NIGERIA SPENT 455 DAYS AS HOSTAGE OF LIBYAN SMUGGLERS
[ Ammadi ]I reached Libya, spent 1 day, and they kidnapped me. They handcuffed me.
for a month
and two weeks. They said I should pay money,
but I didn't have anyone to pay the money for me.
[ GEO ] UNHCR SHELTER, MEDENINE
[ Ammadi ]They took me out, tied my eyes, and shot me in the leg.
[ Ammadi ]They took me out.
[ Ammadi ]There was one man who had money that took me to the hospital,
but I worked for him for 8 months, without payment.
[ Ammadi ]I spent 5 months. I get a call… Somebody called me.
[ Ammadi ]They said that I know Rose-Marie.
[ Ammadi ]I said, 'Rose-Marie? She's my girlfriend, I know Rose-Marie…
[ Ammadi ]I left her in Nigeria'.
AMMADI USSA
[ Ammadi ]He said, 'No, Rose-Marie is in Libya'.
[ Ammadi ]The man said that...
he'd give me one week.
[ Ammadi ]If I didn't bring him money, he was going to sell her into prostitution.
[ Ammadi ]I asked the man I worked for I had to work an extra 5 months.
[ Ammadi ]I brought my girlfriend to where I was staying.
[ Ammadi ]I paid the money.
[ Ammadi ]So, I was free for this journey.
[ Ammadi ]Our boat had problems.
[ Ammadi ]There was no fuel.
[ Ammadi ]After... two days…
[ Ammadi ]Rose-Marie changed.
[ Ammadi ]She said she was hungry, that she needed water.
[ Ammadi ]There was no food.
[ Ammadi ]And I lost Rose-Marie.
[ Ammadi ]She was buried in Zarzis.
[ Ammadi ]There's a grave.
[ Ammadi ]She wanted to live here because she loved me.
[ Ammadi ]I'm in Tunisia.
[ Ammadi ]I can't go back to my country.
[ Ammadi ]Without passports or papers,
[ Ammadi ]I can't stay.
[ Ammadi ]I live here illegally.
[ Ammadi ]I seek for asylum... That was four months ago.
[ Ammadi ]I must pray to God.
[ Ammadi ]God should help me.
[ Ammadi ]That's my prayer, every day.
[ GEO ] RED CRESCENT SHELTER, MEDENINE
[ Voice ]Come on, keep going, don't give up.
[ Voice ]They'll send you back to Nigeria.
[ Voice ]We're here now,
[ Voice ]We'll keep trying to cross the sea even if they let us stay.
[ Monji Slim ]Ever since the events in Libya in 2011, we've been
occupied with solving the problems of migrants and refugees.
[ Monji ]Last year, 1,600 people passed through this camp.
[ Monji ]We keep them here for about two months,
so they can decide whether to voluntarily return
to their countries or file for refugee status.
[ Monji ]We receive new people every day.
[ Monji ]We need to make space for new arrivals, so we can't keep them here for long.
[ Nadej ]I've ended up here due to a number of situations
NADEJ BAMBA, CONGO SPENT 300 DAYS AS HOSTAGE OF LIBYAN SMUGGLERS
that I went through in my country.
[ Nadej ]I eventually came to Libya, to go on to Europe.
[ Nadej ]When we arrived in Libya,
they quickly took us to a house with no windows
and hid us there.
[ Nadej ]They told us we'd be sent to Europe the next day,
but a lot of people came during the night and raped us.
[ Nadej ]It didn't happen just once, they kept coming back.
NADEJ BAMBA
[ Nadej ]Even after I became pregnant, they kept doing it…
to all the girls there.
[ Nadej ]Once I asked: 'Can't you see the state I'm in? Why won't you release us?'
[ Nadej ]He said: 'I can't let you go before I recover all the money I spent on you'
[ Nadej ]Later, he got scared due to my condition and got me out,
with the rest.
[ Nadej ]For me, to go to Libya, to go to Europe… So far, I haven't thought it out.
[ Nadej ]I've thought and cried so much, I can't even think or cry anymore.
[ Nadej ]I just don't know.
[ Nadej ]May God be merciful. I don't know.
[ Voice ]Two punches… then kick and block.
[ Al Fijani ]I was Tunisia's Kung fu Sanda champ 3 years in a row I've been thinking about it for a long time.
[ Al ]I've trained and trained, but nothing's changed.
[ Al ]I'm already out of patience, I need to go.
[ Al ]I've heard that lots of my pals who did it became very successful.
[ Al ]Tunisia has pushed us into immigrating.
[ Al ]It doesn't support individual sports,
only football.
[ Al ]Each time I tried cost me 850 to 1,000 dollars.
[ Al ]This is already my fourth attempt.
[ Al ]Every time we're caught by the border patrol,
we feel like all our efforts, all our dreams have drowned at sea It was like we'd never left.
[ Al ]My last try was on June 3, 2018, the day my friends died.
[ Al ]We found a boat that was supposed to take us to Italy,
but when we arrived, there were already 90 people there,
so 180 in total.
[ Al ]We complained to the smugglers, saying the boat would never make it.
[ Al ]We'd been at sea about 2.5 hours.
[ Al ]It all happened in an instant.
[ Al ]The boat suddenly capsized.
[ Al ]There were screams and cries from African women.
[ Al ]As a rule, Africans can't swim and are built very solidly.
[ Al ]If one grabs you, you'll drown together.
[ Al ]Imagine, out of 180 people, they could only find 46.
[ Mohamed Qazi ]We found out about this tragedy...
MOHAMED QAZI MEHDAWI VICTIM'S FATHER
the next day, Sunday,
from the news.
[ Mohamed ] According to witnesses,
my son stayed afloat for 6 hours…
but then he got tired.
[ Mohamed ]If he could've found a job here, he wouldn't have gone… no one would.
[ Mohamed ]They took that step because...
they felt ignored and unneeded… the difficult position of today's youth.
[ Mohamed ]You see what happens in a country with no factories or jobs?
[ Mohamed ]Who would want to look death in the eye?
[ Mohamed ]It's not easy.
[ Helmi's mother ]When he managed to find an odd job,
he'd go straight to a shop when he got home, without even washing his hands,
and he'd buy the most expensive sweets for his sisters and brother.
[ Helmi's mother ]He was always thinking of them, but he forgot about himself.
[ Helmi's sister ]I'm wearing his favourite t-shirt.
[ Helmi's sister ]Every time I put it on, I feel like he's still here with us.
[ Helmi's sister ]We can still smell him.
[ Helmi's sister ]We still can't believe it happened.
[ Helmi's sister ]It feels like he's sleeping and we need to wake him up for dinner.
[ Helmi's sister ]When there's a knock at the door, it feels like Helmi's back.
[ Helmi's sister ]When he was in the capital, he bought his sister a doll.
[ Helmi's sister ]She's always winding it up.
[ Helmi's mother ]He said the most important thing for him was to build a house for his family.
[ Helmi's mother ]That was his ultimate dream.
[ Helmi's mother ]He always talked about it.
[ Helmi's mother ]He said: 'I want to work and build my mother a house'.
[ Mohamed ]We've hardly achieved anything.
[ Mohamed ]As you can see, even this house we live in is rented.
[ Mohamed ]I feel like... a bird with a broken wing.
[ Mohamed ]He was the oldest child.
[ Mohamed ]He was my right hand.
[ Mohamed ]I hope I don't lose hope.
[ Mohamed ]Sorry, I can't…
[ Chamsaddin ]When my children left for Italy, my wife didn't even
tell me until they'd arrived I got this feeling…
[ Chamsaddin ]I started remembering all the bodies we'd
[ Chamsaddin ]fished out… it was a terrible feeling.
[ Chamsaddin ]I realised my son could have been one of them.
[ Chamsaddin ]That's when I understood
how the parents of Africans who vanish and drown must feel.
[ Chamsaddin ]I believe the souls of those I buried prayed for my children
and saved them, so I wouldn't go through what their families did.
[ Chamsaddin ]Here are two of my sons in France together.
[ Chamsaddin ]I was opposed to them immigrating, but when I saw these,
[ Chamsaddin ]I felt so happy for them and realised this gave them hope for a better life.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]I haven't seen my sons for two years now.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]But what's important is that they're on the right
track. They're doing well, they're happy and working.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]I follow them on Facebook.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]They look well-dressed.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]I'm really happy for them, may Allah be with them...
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]I really miss them.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]God willing, I'll see them one day.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]My son sent me some money to renovate the house.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]If he earns 1,100-1,200 euro there, just imagine what that money can do here.
[ Chamsaddin's wife ]I know they don't have a future here.
[ Chamsaddin ]Young people have been waiting for 9 years now,
but there are still no jobs,
so they leave.
[ Al ]I don't know what to do with these medals.
[ Al's mother ]This is just a fraction of what I've got.
[ Al's mother ]He hasn't found anything here, so he wants to go to the EU.
[ Al's mother ]He wants to improve our situation.
[ Al's mother ]All young people here think the same, they want to leave.
[ Al's mother ]His father's already old, yet he's seen nothing.
[ Al's mother ]He's 62 with only an evening job at a café for 5 dollars.
[ Al's mother ]As I'm his mother, I tried to stop him, but then I sold my jewellery.
[ Al's mother ]He sold his scooters and mobile phones, and then he took to the sea.
[ Al's mother ]When my younger son found out, he
said to his brother: 'Please, take me, I don't want to stay'.
[ Al ]I'll definitely make another attempt.
[ Al ]Life here is a slow death.
[ Al ]Better to die trying to do something than watch all your dreams and aspirations crumble.
[ Chamsaddin ]More than 350-400 bodies lie here atop the bodies already buried… a second layer.
[ Chamsaddin ]The cemetery's full, and we only have these two spots left.
[ Chamsaddin ]We're facing a dilemma.
[ Chamsaddin ]We have no idea what we'll do in the future.
[ Chamsaddin ]Since the EU put a stop...
to the activities of rescue organisations,
it's likely we'll see the sea carrying a surge of living and dead people here from Libya.
[ Chamsaddin ]All these bodies are carved into my memory.
[ Chamsaddin ]The young people from Africa and Tunisia aren't the ones to blame.
[ Chamsaddin ]We've had bad luck with politics, not with people.
15,459 PEOPLE HAD RISKED THEIR LIVES ATTEMPTING TO ILLEGALY CROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA IN 2019 ALONE BY
MID-MAY. MORE THAN 500 OF THEM PERISHED OR DISAPPEARED. ACCORDING TO STATISTICS FROM THE UN REFUGEE AGENCY