A court in Palermo has ruled that Italy must pay €76,000 in compensation to the German aid organization Sea-Watch for the unjustified seizure of its rescue ship, the "Sea-Watch 3," in 2019. The vessel was impounded for five months after docking in Lampedusa in June 2019, defying a government ban and carrying dozens of migrants rescued at sea. Captain Carola Rackete was arrested but the proceedings against her were dropped in 2021. The ruling, which obligates several Italian ministries and Sicilian authorities to pay, has drawn outrage from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government has sought to restrict migrant rescue operations and is proposing a "sea blockade" to prevent migrant boats from entering Italian waters. The Mediterranean remains a perilous route, with over 530 deaths or disappearances reported by the IOM this year.