The "Samos Camp" is a new center built by Greece in the town of Zefru on the island of Samos, with full funding from the European Union, to detain irregular migrants. The Greek authorities are seeking to promote it as a role model, while observers indicate that it hides the fact that there are other centers in which migrants live in a very difficult situation. .
The Greek authorities allowed the French magazine Le Point to enter the camp that was designated to receive irregular migrants, which international humanitarian organizations describe as "Europe's Guantanamo".
According to the magazine, the camp located on Zefru Island extends over an area of one and a half hectares, and is subject to intensive security monitoring around the clock, as security men are deployed everywhere, in addition to surveillance cameras, including drone cameras.
The camp was inaugurated in 2019, and its construction cost 43 million euros provided by the European Union to Greece, as explained by the camp's director, Dmitry Aksiotis, to the magazine, and European officials see in this camp a model that can be replicated in other European countries.
The magazine said that the camp can accommodate 3,000 people, and there are places designated for 200 minors. It currently houses about 1,000 immigrants, who are distributed in several areas according to nationality.
It is forbidden to move inside the camp between eight in the evening and eight in the morning, and Aksiotis was keen to confirm that life inside the camp is comfortable and appropriate, as it includes the necessary life facilities, including rooms of an area of 25 square meters, shared kitchens, study rooms, and spaces for sports.
Another image
A picture that does not agree with the non-governmental humanitarian organizations that call the camp - according to Le Point - the "Guantanamo of Europe", in which cameras widely deployed monitor the movement of irregular migrants around the clock, and these cameras are linked to a remote control center located at the headquarters of the Ministry of Immigration in the capital, Athens.
Le Point says that the security personnel in the Samos camp receive orders from that control center, move on the basis of those instructions, and carry out the required.
The magazine quoted Rudi - an immigrant from Congo-Brazzaville - as saying that the loss of freedom is difficult, whatever the circumstances, despite his admission that this camp is better than other camps for the detention of immigrants, where incidents of assault and violence abound.
According to the magazine, the camp administration organizes programs for the benefit of the migrants inside the camp, including entertainment and educational programmes. The migrants - especially the men - are keen to follow the World Cup matches organized in Qatar, although their national teams did not qualify for the World Cup.