Turkey Sentences Human Traffickers to Four Years in Prison

Turkey has sentenced two Syrians to four years in prison over the death of a toddler and his family who drowned en route to Turkey.

Turkish state media said Friday the Syrians - Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad - were convicted of human trafficking and given four years and two months in prison.

Among the refugees who drowned was 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a toddler who became a visual symbol of the refugee crisis when media published a photograph of his tiny, lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach.

The other refugees who perished included Aylan's mother and brother.

The trial of the two Syrians opened February 11 at the criminal court in Turkey's western resort town of Bodrum.

The family members of Aylan Kurdi were among hundreds of thousands who took the risk to reach Greece in the hope to be able to travel farther north for a better life in the prosperous countries of northern and western Europe.
  [voanews.com]
4/3/16