The German rescue organisation, SOS Humanity, is taking a legal action against a decision by the Italian authorities not to allow 35 migrants to land in the port of Catania.
A spokesperson for the organisation, Petra Krischok, said on Tuesday that an urgent asylum application had been filed with a court in the Sicilian city for the migrants.
Krischok said that the migrants had to remain on the ship Humanity 1 for two days after entering the port of Catania and was denied permission to land.
A complaint was also filed with the Administrative Court in Rome against a decree issued by the interior ministry of the new right-wing Italian government.
That decree stipulates that the Humanity 1 must leave Italian waters again and take with it all migrants for whom the authorities do not see an emergency.
