TNA investigation prompts French authorities to probe role of police in drowning of Syrian migrant

On July 12, following an investigation by The New Arab (TNA), Dunkirk’s public prosecutor, Charlotte Huet, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that her office had opened a preliminary investigation into the conduct of French police for involuntary manslaughter and for having “failed to assist a person in danger”. The public prosecutor's office subsequently referred the case to the body responsible for overseeing the French police, the Inspection General de la Police Nationale (IGPN).

The move by the public prosecutor’s office came after Utopia 56, an NGO that supports the displaced and the homeless in France, filed a legal complaint against the French police in coordination with the publication of TNA’s investigation.

The investigation revealed that officers had attacked migrants with tear gas, which prompted the cornered victim to jump into the water and drown. Despite the proximity of officers on shore and repeated warnings from those travelling with Jumaa al-Hasan, the police had done almost nothing to save the 27-year-old. In the aftermath of his death, the fire brigade carried out only a minimal search.

The investigation raises questions about the precarious nature of attempted crossings in the Channel, the responsibilities of the French police, and the shortcomings of the emergency services. As in many similar cases, official probes appear to deflect blame from authorities, by focussing only on smuggling networks, an approach now endorsed by the UK despite its implications for human rights.

French President Emmanuel Macron concluded a three-day state visit to Britain last week. At a summit on Thursday July 10, senior government officials from the two countries proposed new measures to tackle channel crossings. 

These included the “one-in-one-out” deal which will see the UK return migrants who arrive on British shores to France. In return, the UK will allow one migrant in France with family links to Britain “to come here via a safe route: controlled and legal, subject to strict security checks and only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally”.

British officials have also been pushing for French police to intervene more forcefully to stop the boats, and welcomed the sight of officers slashing rubber dinghies with knives in recent weeks. 

Britain is also pushing France to let officers intervene against boats in deeper waters, a change the government in Paris is considering. 

Campaigners for migrants’ rights and a police union warn that doing so could endanger both migrants and officers. Dozens of migrants have already died trying to cross the channel.

Over the past years, the UK has already struck a series of deals with France to increase patrols of beaches and share intelligence in an attempt to disrupt the smuggling gangs, but these agreements have all had very limited impact. About 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in 2024, the second-highest annual figure after 46,000 in 2022. More than 20,000 people made the crossing in the first six months of 2025, up by about 50 percent from the same period last year. 

Starmer’s right-wing opponents seized on the data, reminding the prime minister of his pledge to “smash the gangs” behind organised people-smuggling. 

Migrants have increasingly been recruited by smugglers to pilot the dinghies that take people from across the channel and therefore, prosecution wise, they are often considered smugglers themselves.

Articles 5 and 6 of the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants, to which both France and the UK are signatories, prohibit the use of anti-smuggling legislation against migrants.

July 15 correction: this article previously stated that the probe opened by Dunkirk's public prosecutor was looking into potential manslaughter by the French police, without specifying involuntary manslaughter. The text has amended accordingly.