Enlarge image
Refugee group around Baidaa S. on the Evros
Photo: private
In the summer of 2022, DER SPIEGEL published three articles on its website that dealt with the fate of a group of refugees on the Greek-Turkish border river Evros. There was also a podcast about it. The accusation leveled in these reports: the Greek government did not help the stranded refugees when it was their duty to do so. As a result of the failure to provide assistance, a five-year-old Syrian girl even died. DER SPIEGEL saw the child as a symbol of the suffering of refugees at the EU's external borders and portrayed this accordingly in its reporting.
The alleged death of Maria, which was also reported by other media, led to a broad debate in the Greek public. Many saw discrepancies. A reader contacted a member of our ombudsman directly, and the Greek Minister for Migration, Notis Mitarachi, sent a letter to the editor-in-chief of SPIEGEL on September 19 because of these articles, in which he wrote: The migrants had not been on Greek soil, there had never been one given dead child.
We take critical letters seriously, our ombudsman took a closer look at the posts. When her doubts about the previous description of the events at that time grew, we temporarily removed the articles and the podcast from our website. Noting that we will review our reporting and, once the research is complete, decide whether to republish the posts in a corrected and updated form, if appropriate.
We have anchored this way of dealing with error notifications in our standards, and we also adhere to it. The ombudsman evaluated numerous internal documents, videos and photos with metadata, chat logs, e-mails, audio files, satellite recordings and other documents, spoke to many people involved and came to the conclusion that we actually made mistakes. A team of SPIEGEL journalists also got back into the research to reconstruct the story of the refugees. Since the principles of the protection of whistleblowers and sources are non-negotiable for us and we also have a duty of care towards our employees, we cannot use the results of our investigation and the follow-up research, which is based in part on the evaluation of internal communications between authors and whistleblowers, only make it public to a limited extent in the context of the following article. However, they are the subject of an internal review.
part One
Were the refugees on Greek or Turkish soil?
This question is so relevant because it depends on which state should have helped those seeking protection who were stuck on an island in the river.
In addition, Greece, like all EU countries, is obliged under international law to facilitate an asylum procedure when migrants enter the EU here for the first time and ask for protection.
In this specific case, it is about whether the country has denied refugees their fundamental rights.
This has happened repeatedly along the Greek-Turkish border in the recent past.
What was written on SPIEGEL.de:
On August 10th, 2022, we reported that the refugees set out for Evros for the first time on July 14th:
»The first time they try, they get stuck on the island, which is in the middle of the river but legally already belongs to Greece.«
Twelve days those seeking protection would have endured in the extreme heat.
Later, Greek uniformed
men "pushed" the migrants back to Turkey.
The Turks then forced them back to the Evros, where they ended up back on the Greek island.
On August 27, 2022, another post said: Maria's family would have
»Tried to get to Greece together with several dozen refugees in mid-July.
They got stuck on an island in the border river Evros.
Greek security forces blocked their way.
Those seeking protection were stuck on the island for almost two weeks... According to European law, the Greek authorities would have been obliged to take in the refugees...«
And on September 23, 2022 we also wrote:
»Refugees were stuck on an island in the Turkish-Greek border river for weeks. «
Result of the in-depth research and processing
Chronology -
Confusion about the islands
July 20, 2022
The non-governmental organization (NGO) »HumanRights360« is contacting the Greek authorities and calling on them to rescue a group of mostly Syrian refugees from the Evros.
The NGO sends the coordinates of an island where the migrants are supposed to be.
According to the Greek Land Registry, the small island belongs to Greece.
The Ministry of Defense in Athens, on the other hand, will later state that there is both a Turkish and a Greek part on the patch of land – a good 700 meters long and 100 wide.
The island, which lies to the east of the small Greek town of Kissari, will be called Kissari Island in the following.
On July 20, »HumanRights360« not only contacted the Greek authorities, but also the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Together with the Greek Refugee Council (GCR), the NGO obtained an urgent decision there: the court decreed that the government was not allowed to send the people back and had to take care of them.
At the same time, it calls on the NGOs and the authorities to clarify where the group is.
The court gives them a week to do this.
A journalist from SPIEGEL in Greece has now learned about the incident and is starting to research.
Through »HumanRights360« he gets in touch with the Syrian Baidaa S. She belongs to the group of refugees and speaks English.
Since this is a restricted military area, media representatives or other unauthorized persons are not allowed to drive to the river bank to see for themselves.
Anyone who does it anyway runs the risk of being arrested.
Red warning signs mark the beginning of the restricted area.
There is no border wall, as can be seen in the photos in the SPIEGEL article, on the section of the river where the refugees are.
22nd of July
In a video call between "HumanRights360", the SPIEGEL man and Baidaa S., of whom there are screenshots, the Syrian uses her cell phone camera to show the long beach on the island where she is stuck.
As our subsequent evaluation showed, this does not match the geodata that the NGOs passed on to the ECHR.
The metadata of several selfies by Baidaa S. also show that the Syrian cannot be on Kissari Island, the coordinates of which have been given to the European Court of Justice.
The actual location is almost four kilometers southwest on an island that is Turkish according to Googlemaps, but also according to the Turkish and Greek land registry.
According to current satellite images, it has a large sandy beach, as shown by Baidaa S. in the video call - unlike Kissari Island.
Satellite image of the southern island from August 2022
As the subsequent research by SPIEGEL revealed, the actual area conditions on the Evros can hardly be explained.
Not only do the official maps of Greeks and Turks sometimes contradict each other, even the Greek authorities themselves have different information about what is Turkish and what is Greek territory.
According to the Greek Ministry of Migration, a Greek-Turkish committee meets regularly to clarify open questions.
The fact that the southern island is Turkish according to the Greek land register is a problem - also with regard to the rescue by the Greek authorities.
That must be just as clear to the SPIEGEL journalist as it is to the NGOs and the refugees.
Just over half an hour after the last news with the geodata of the southern island, the SPIEGEL journalists received a live location from Kissari Island.
It is difficult to imagine that the group with several children, an old woman and a pregnant woman could have moved almost four kilometers upstream in such a short time.
It is conceivable, for example, that a smuggler was called for help from the Turkish side and took at least one person or the mobile phone to Kissari Island by boat.
Or that the live location was manipulated.
With a mobile phone, like the ones the refugees had with them, this is definitely possible.
The contradiction between the live location from Kissari Island and the numerous other pieces of evidence that the refugees had been on Turkish territory for several days cannot finally be clarified.
The calls from the island
July 25th
After Baidaa S. had sent SPIEGEL a selfie of herself and a child from Kissari Island the day before, more photos are coming that day that apparently show the group there.
Both the vegetation and the metadata indicate this.
According to this, at the latest, people are on the "right" island, namely Kissari Island, which the NGOs had reported to the European Court of Justice.
It is unclear when and how the migrants got there, whether they had a rubber dinghy or perhaps waded to the Turkish mainland and headed north-east, and whether they had help.
In order to have definitive proof that the group is on Kissari Island, SPIEGEL asked two Greek witnesses shortly after 2 p.m. to record the refugees' calls from the mainland.
SPIEGEL has the audio recording and photos of the call campaign.
A video made by the refugees is also available on YouTube.
The Ministry of Citizen Protection will reply to a parliamentary question in August that the local police had been informed by an NGO and Frontex, but in the period 20-26.
July could not find anyone despite the use of technical means.
That's not particularly believable.
According to the geodata of the photos of the refugees, the migrants were on Kissari Island at least on July 25, 2022, the location coordinates of which were available to both the authorities and the ECHR.
The island is less than a kilometer long and in some places only a few meters away from mainland Greece.
A Greek border guard watchtower stands nearby.
The Greek government's argument that it would not have been possible to save the refugees anyway because Kissari-Insal is partly Turkish seems cynical.
The pushbacks
July 26th
Baidaa S. reports that they are back in Turkey.
According to »HumanRights360« and the Greek Refugee Council, the Greeks pushed back the migrants.
August 1st
Baidaa S. reports further pushbacks.
The group was then separated.
Her messages sound increasingly desperate: "They are playing us back and forth like a soccer ball... We are very tired.
Please help us somehow... We are bound to die here..."
SPIEGEL has testimonies from those affected about the group's pushbacks, but no video recordings or other evidence.
The Greek public prosecutor's office is currently investigating and, according to its own statements, is not allowed to provide any information on the ongoing proceedings.
The reports about pushbacks basically coincide with the reports of SPIEGEL and other media on the actions of the Greek authorities on the Evros.
4th of August
Baidaa S. sends the coordinates of a spot on the shore about 40 kilometers upstream from Kissari Island.
The new location is on the Turkish side of the river, but according to the Greek land registry, the small stretch of shore is part of Greece.
But no one from the Greek side comes to help.
August 7th
The Syrian reports that there was a shootout between Greeks and Turks.
Because of pushbacks, her group grew to 70 people.
Later, the Turks divided them up and shipped some of the people back to an island.
Back on Kissari Island?
August 9, 2022
Probably in the middle of the night, Baidaa S. records several voice messages in which she sobs about the death of a girl who was stung by a scorpion.
Another child is in mortal danger.
It is unclear who received the audio message first, at some point it will reach SPIEGEL.
SPIEGEL's direct contact with the refugees had been broken off by this time.
August 10th
The Greek SPIEGEL colleague on site is alarmed and writes a text that he sends in an English version to the editorial office in Hamburg.
In order to be able to report on the case before other media, the article should be published online quickly.
A member of the foreign department management translates, edits and supplements the text and will be the co-author of the article.
While in the original English version the death of the child was reported in several places in the subjunctive ("She is reported dead", "the group says, Maria died"), in the German version everything is in the indicative at the end.
The manuscript and the following ones on the subject of Maria are not checked by the SPIEGEL documentation, whose task it is to question the texts again whether all the information is correct.
However, such a check is often omitted for texts that are only published online: due to the large number of current texts, the documentation can only check a part of them.
In the case of all three articles, those responsible in the foreign department had not commissioned an examination of the documentation.
The Greek daily newspaper "Efsyn" and the Arabic TV station "Al Jazeera" also reported on the same day.
Two days later follows a television report on the British television channel »Channel 4«.
But the media attention does not help the refugees.
SPIEGEL cannot be sure where the group was in those days.
The NGOs assume that she will be back on Kissari Island by August 8th.
This is how they report it to the ECHR.
And so the NGO "Watch the med - Alarm Phone" tweeted it, to which Baidaa S. turned in those days.
At least one selfie from August 11 shows only Baidaa S. and according to the metadata was taken on Kissari Island.
15th of August
Baidaa S. and her group are picked up on the Greek mainland - at the level of the southern "Turkish" island, where they were on July 22nd.
A video shows that they are apparently ferried over with a rubber dinghy.
Everything indicates that the recording of Baidaa S. was taken on the southern island.
How long they were there remains unclear despite subsequent research.
Also how they got to the dinghy.
Members of the group say it was abandoned by other refugees.
The Greeks finally take the refugees to a refugee camp near the village of Fylakio, where they apply for asylum.
Conclusion
We did not correctly describe the situation in our article.
The SPIEGEL reports give the impression that the group of refugees has been stranded on the same Greek island for almost a month.
However, the migrants were not always on the same island, nor were they always on Greek soil.
In fact, it can only be proven for a few days where the refugees were exactly.
The Greek government's account also does not correctly reflect what happened.
At times, according to SPIEGEL research, refugees from the group were on Greek territory – and the Greek police could probably have found them there without any problems.
According to one of the Greek government's maps from 2016, even the southern island, which the SPIEGEL journalist, among others, believed to be Turkish, is Greek.
In its reply to SPIEGEL, the Greek government also emphasizes that the army's geographical service is responsible for determining the course of the border.
In October 2022, for example, he announced that Kissari Island was divided – but a map on the website still shows it as completely Greek.
Part II
Was there Mary?
Passages from the SPIEGEL articles:
The first text on August 10, 2022 entitled
“Maria, five years old, died at the EU external border”
says:
“The exact circumstances of Maria’s death have not yet been clarified.
She may have died from a scorpion sting.
What is certain is that her death could have been avoided, like so many deaths on the Evros.«
Another article from August 27, 2022 says:
»Maria had a strong character, was full of dreams, say her parents.
She loved comics and wanted to be a TV star.
Now Maria is dead. She died at the beginning of August on Europe's outer border because the Greek authorities refused her any help.«
The headline of the text: »
How the death of five-year-old Maria is changing the refugee debate in Greece«.
In a SPIEGEL podcast from August 19, one of the authors says that he has seldom come across a case that
“shows so symbolically what is going wrong in European migration policy.
One
has to »say very clearly that she died in the end because Europe, because the EU, because Greece didn't help her.« And further: »Greece and the Greek authorities would rather watch a five-year-old girl die than two, to let three dozen refugees into the country and take them in.«
Result of the in-depth research and processing
Before the publication of the first article on August 10, 2022, SPIEGEL had a photo of the allegedly dead child, which Baidaa S. had probably sent to NGOs and probably also media representatives: A little girl, pale face, eyes closed, is lying on the Floor.
The black pants are pulled down a bit so that a hematoma-like discoloration on the left thigh can be clearly seen.
There is also the audio recording of Baidaa S., who tells us in a voice choking on tears that one girl is dead and another in mortal danger.
The second report came about after SPIEGEL met members of the group in the Fylakio refugee camp.
Among them Baidaa S. and the parents of the allegedly dead girl, Maryam B. and Mohammad A.
Fylakio is a camp that refugees are not allowed to leave.
Journalists are not allowed to enter the facility without permission from the authorities.
The SPIEGEL correspondent nevertheless researched there without official permission.
The department management in Hamburg had given their okay.
The journalist, who is also a freelance translator, registered for an NGO in this capacity under his real name.
This enabled him to speak to members of the refugee group at the end of August.
In her hearings before the Greek asylum authorities in Fylakio at the end of August and beginning of September, Baidaa S., her parents and other eyewitnesses said that a girl had died of a scorpion sting.
Nevertheless, the debate in the Greek public as to whether Maria really existed did not stop.
Some wondered how it could be that the refugees did not know where exactly Maria is supposed to be buried or why, according to the Greek government, only four and not five children of Maryam B. and Mohammad A. had been passed on to the European Court of Justice.
On September 23, SPIEGEL responded with another article and addressed the doubts.
The tenor: The Greek government tried to put some of the refugees under pressure and change their statements.
In fact, the NGO lawyers reported a complaint from two refugees that they had been asked to change their statements about Maria's death.
Despite the doubts about the truthfulness of the story, SPIEGEL failed to do a thorough, self-critical research at an early stage.
The eyewitnesses
DER SPIEGEL was able to locate some of the men who said they were present when Maria was buried and spoke to two of them by telephone in November.
One now lives in Germany, the other probably in the Netherlands.
Both stick to it: A child died on the Evros at the time.
They don't want to give any more information about the pushbacks.
The experiences were too traumatizing.
Baidaa S., who kept in touch with the media and NGOs during the time on the Evros, now lives in Rhineland-Palatinate.
She is said to have been taken to a refugee camp near Drama, a city in north-eastern Greece, in September together with others from the Evros group.
But a little later she posted a TikTok video of a flight that starts in Athens.
Below she wrote in Arabic: "I arrived in Germany, it was a long struggle." The video has since been deleted.
How Baidaa S. was able to get the necessary papers to fly to Germany in such a short time cannot be explained.
According to a social media post, she has now married a Syrian in Germany.
Since then, she has been posting a lot on her TikTok and Instagram channels.
More than 24,000 people follow her on Instagram at the end of December.
She declines another interview with SPIEGEL, her husband says over the phone.
On the other hand, Maryam B. and Mohammad A., Maria's parents, are ready to meet in mid-November in a café in the center of Drama.
The family is still stuck in the refugee camp there.
The two answer questions, they don't want to be quoted.
Before the interview, they were in a photo studio with the four children to have pictures taken for new identity papers.
They haven't received their documents yet.
You can see the fear and mistrust that something could still go wrong.
The refugee camp, where the family has been staying for months, is located a few kilometers from the city center.
There is nothing in the immediate vicinity except for a few industrial buildings.
There is play equipment in an inner courtyard, and security guards sit at every exit.
Unlike in Fylakio, the migrants are allowed to leave the home, but like in all other Greek camps, visits are only possible with official permission.
Still composed at first, Maryam B. talks about how dramatic the days on the Evros were.
How bad things were for the children.
That Maria is now dead.
At some point she starts to cry.
Her husband looks after the two younger children outside, the two older ones busy with a mobile phone in the corner.
Maryam B. and Mohammad A. take more than an hour to talk.
Nevertheless, the doubts about her story are not dispelled in the end.
The parents can no longer remember exactly where the child is supposed to be buried and have no photos that can prove its existence - not even from before.
The lists of names
In fact, on the list of 50 people the NGOs handed over to the European Court of Human Rights on July 20, only four children of Maryam B. and Mohammad A are listed: Hassan, Ayah, Hanin and Maria.
Maya, the alleged name of the fifth child, is missing from the document.
According to the family, she is said to be Maria's twin sister.
When it comes to lists of names for refugees, there are often inconsistencies at first.
According to NGOs, another name has also been forgotten in the case of the Evros Group.
The July ECHR list is not the only one, however, which only lists four of Maryam B's children.
At the beginning of August, the refugees repeatedly gave lists of names from the Evros to the helpers - a fifth child in the family named Maya is never mentioned.
Photos of Mary
The picture of the allegedly dead girl that was available to SPIEGEL is no proof that the child really died.
The photo was sent via WhatsApp and does not contain any metadata that would indicate when and where it was taken.
In addition, it is not possible to say whether the girl just closed her eyes or is dead.
After analyzing the pictures taken by the refugees on the Evros, the SPIEGEL research team came to the conclusion that Maryam B. was only ever photographed with four of her alleged five children.
In addition, not a single photo from the time before or during the escape has appeared that could prove that there was not just another daughter in addition to Hanin and Ayah, but twin sisters.
The family claims that all the souvenir photos were stored on a mobile phone that the Greeks took from them.
Relatives or acquaintances could also not send any photographic evidence.
Official Syrian documents
In order to prove that the twin girls Maria and Maya were actually born, the refugee's lawyer provided media representatives with photos of certificates.
Maryam B. also showed an excerpt from her family book on her cell phone when she met SPIEGEL.
DER SPIEGEL had the information about a Syrian lawyer checked.
In fact, all five children are officially registered in Syria.
However, the registration date of the three younger ones, Maria, Maya and Hanin, is November 3, 2022, almost three months after the alleged death of the child.
Weitere Recherchen ergaben, dass es in Syrien möglich ist, auch erst Jahre nach der Geburt Kinder registrieren zu lassen. Das Land wird seit 2011 vom Bürgerkrieg gebeutelt. Dass Babys den Behörden nicht gemeldet werden, ist nicht ungewöhnlich. Informationen des SPIEGEL zufolge wäre es relativ leicht, an offizielle Dokumente zu kommen, ohne dass es tatsächlich ein Kind gab: Mit den richtigen Verbindungen lässt sich dies für rund 50 Dollar pro Person in den Vororten von Homs arrangieren.
Ob die Kinder von Maryam B. überhaupt in Syrien geboren sind, steht ebenfalls nicht zweifelsfrei fest. Eine Person aus dem engeren Umfeld der Familie in Syrien sagt, Maryam B. und Mohammad A. seien bereits vor Jahren in die Türkei geflüchtet. Das Paar habe keine Zwillinge. Unabhängig überprüfen lässt sich aber auch diese Aussage nicht.
Selbst wenn zweifelsfrei belegt wäre, dass Maryam B. die Zwillinge Maria und Maya in Syrien zur Welt brachte, wäre das noch keine Bestätigung dafür, dass eines der Kinder tatsächlich am Evros sein Leben ließ.
Skorpione in Griechenland
Mehr als 30 Skorpion-Arten sind in Griechenland heimisch. Alle verfügen über einen Giftstachel. Aber gefürchtet in der Region ist nur Mesobuthus gibbosus. Im Normalfall dürfte ein Stich sehr schmerzhaft sein, nicht tödlich. Auch größere Blutergüsse sind Medizinern zufolge eher unwahrscheinlich. Dennoch ist es nicht auszuschließen, dass ein fünfjähriges dehydriertes Kind in schlechter gesundheitlicher Verfassung an einem Skorpionstich sterben kann.
Berichten zufolge soll auch die neunjährige Schwester gestochen worden sein und sich in Lebensgefahr befunden haben.
Die griechische Regierung schrieb dem SPIEGEL im Dezember, das Mädchen sei auf Anordnung des Staatsanwalts im August in das Universitätskrankenhaus von Didymoticho verlegt worden. Sie sei in der Kinderklinik des Krankenhauses »einer gründlichen medizinischen Untersuchung« unterzogen worden. Nach Angaben der Ärzte habe es »keine klinischen Befunde im Zusammenhang mit einem Stich durch einen Gliederfüßer (Skorpion)« gegeben. Die medizinische Akte dürfe der SPIEGEL aus Datenschutzgründen nicht ohne Einwilligung der Betroffenen einsehen.
Die Leiche
Es ist unklar, wo auf der Insel das Mädchen begraben worden sein soll. Nach islamischem Ritual ist es eigentlich üblich, einen Grabstein zu setzen. Die Augenzeugen, die der SPIEGEL sprechen konnte, sagen, man habe die Stelle nicht markiert wollen, um zu verhindern, dass andere Migranten darauf aufmerksam werden. Das Risiko, dass jemand die Totenruhe des Kindes störe, weil er verbuddelte Wertgegenstände an der markierten Stelle vermute, sei zu hoch gewesen.
Die griechische Regierung sieht darin einen Beleg dafür, dass nie ein Kind gestorben ist.
Der Migrationsminister schrieb dem SPIEGEL im Dezember auf Anfrage, man habe die Familie nach ihrer Ankunft in Griechenland um Erlaubnis gebeten, das Internationale Rote Kreuz und den Roten Halbmond zu kontaktieren, damit diese die Türkei bitten, auf der Insel nach der Leiche suchen zu dürfen. Die Eltern hätten dies verweigert. Nachdem Indizien aufgetaucht seien, die die Existenz des Kindes infrage stellten, habe dann wiederum die Familie beim örtlichen Staatsanwalt einen Antrag auf Exhumierung der Leiche gestellt – allerdings ohne einen Ort für das provisorische Grab zu nennen. Der Staatsanwalt habe die Familie angewiesen, weitere Informationen zu liefern. Zum aktuellen Stand will sich die Behörde nicht äußern.
Die Inseln werden im Winter teilweise vom Wasser überspült. Je mehr Zeit vergeht, desto unwahrscheinlicher wird es daher, eine mögliche Leiche zu finden. Vermutlich wird sich die Geschichte deshalb niemals zweifelsfrei aufklären lassen.
Fazit
Angesichts der Quellenlage hätte der SPIEGEL die Berichte über den Aufenthaltsort der Geflüchteten und vor allem den Tod des Mädchens deutlich vorsichtiger formulieren müssen.Auch wenn ein letztgültiger Beleg fehlt, deutet doch manches daraufhin, dass einige der Geflüchteten den Todesfall in ihrer Verzweiflung erfunden haben könnten. Möglicherweise dachten sie, dass sie dann endlich gerettet würden.
We will no longer put the earlier articles on the Maria case on the online site - not even in a revised version.
Too much of it needs to be corrected.
Instead, we are publishing the results of our in-depth research here.