Syrian suspects charged over refugee deaths

The four Syrian suspects appeared in handcuffs at a courthouse in the Turkish town of Bodrum on Friday. They were charged with smuggling migrants and causing multiple deaths by "conscious negligence" in connection with the drowning of a group of people trying to flee by boat for Greece, including 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, his mother and his brother.

The mother of one of the Syrian suspects, Meliha Recep, insisted in court that her son was not a smuggler. "They did nothing, they were just trying to escape. Our children are also victims. They were just on the same boat, that's all," the woman told reporters.

The photo of Aylan Kurdi, who earlier this week drowned and washed up on the beach of Bodrum, shocked the world. He was buried in his hometown of Kobani on Friday, along with his five-year-old brother and their mother.

Hundreds of people try to cross from Bodrum to the Greek island Kos, despite the well-known risks. The United Nations refugee agency estimates about 300,000 people have used dangerous sea routes to reach Europe this year alone. About 2,500 have died in the Mediterranean Sea so far this year.

das/se (Reuters, AFP)