Book description
Eighty miles off the Libyan coast water is leaking rapidly into the
bottom of a dilapidated wooden boat. Twenty-seven men, crammed in
side-by-side, desperately attempt to bail it out, but the boat is
sinking. In the distance one of their number spots a ship and, forcing
the last moments of life from the engine, they move towards it. But
the crew refuses to allow them on board. Instead the men scramble onto
the floats of a huge industrial tuna net, and watch as their boat
rolls over and disappears into the heaving Mediterranean.
Like tens of thousands of others Justice set off from his rural
village with an idealised vision of an new life in England - the
'home' country - desperate just to earn his way and help his orphaned
brother and sister left behind. During his long journey to the African
coast, he's captured, jailed and tortured, before escaping and heading
northwards again. Once in Tripoli he's duped into handing over his
life savings for a trip in a wreck of a boat across miles of open sea
to almost certain death. But there is also compassion here and he
meets old and wise souls along the way.
The tuna net is not the end of Justice's story. It is an
extraordinary tale of courage, and an important account of a life
caught between cultures, on the edge of survival.
Paul Kenyon is a highly experienced reporter and producer who has
worked for almost twenty years across BBC News and Current Affairs. He
currently works on
Panorama
. In 2005 he was the first reporter to film Iran's secret nuclear sites,
making an hour-long documentary which was shown around the world. For
four years Paul had his own series on BBC One,
Kenyon Confronts
which used secret filming to expose corruption in areas as diverse as
horse-racing, the Catholic Church and immigration. At its peak it was
the most watched current affairs programme on the BBC. His job has taken
him around the world - investigating Nike in Cambodia, cocaine factories
in Colombia, fugitives in Northern Cyprus and dolphin-hunting in Japan.
