BODRUM , Turkey, March 4 (UPI) -- Two Syrians have been convicted for human smuggling leading to the deaths of five refugees, including a 3-year-old boy whose drowned body, photographed washed up on a beach, became a symbol of the migrant crisis.
A Bodrum, Turkey, court sentenced Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad to 50 month jail terms for human trafficking, but acquitted them on charges of death through deliberate negligence, which carried 35-year sentences. The men abandoned a vessel in September 2015 traveling at night from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos after seas became rough. The refugees aboard were left to steer the boat themselves.