The ship, belonging to Spanish aid group Proactiva Open Arms, was seized in mid-March after NGO workers refused to hand over migrants saved during a rescue mission off the Libyan coast to the Libyan coastguard, instead delivering them to the Italian island of Sicily. The Open Arms – which is operated by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms and has rescued more than 5,000 people from the Mediterranean over the past three years – was seized on 19 March after it docked in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo with 218 migrants onboard. READ ALSO: Italy seizes NGO boat that refused to take migrants to Libya

Having gone to the aid of two vessels in difficulty and taken 218 people on board the Open Arms, Proactiva refused the Libyan coast guard's orders to hand over the migrants.
A judge in Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, orders the release of a Proactiva Open Arms migrant search and rescue ship detained in Pozzallo since arriving there on March 18 carrying over 200 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. Catania prosecutors requested the Spanish ship's detention alleging involvement in illegal immigration after Proactiva refused to hand the migrants over to Libya.