Rome court rejects orders to detain migrants in Albania

A Rome court has rejected orders to detain a group of migrants in a reception facility in Albania and said they had a right to be brought to Italy, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's plan to divert asylum-seekers abroad.

This week, a total of 16 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean and taken to Albania by an Italian navy ship, becoming the first group of people to be housed in the new facility of Gjader after being processed in the Shengjin port.

Four of them have already been brought to Italy for health reasons or because they were recognized as minors.

"The refusal to validate detentions in Albanian structures and areas … is due to the impossibility of recognizing the states of origin of the detained persons as safe countries," court president Luciana Sangiovanni said in a statement, adding the migrants had therefore "a right to be...