Forty-one Eritrean migrants have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights over their ordeal in mid-August when Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini held them on an Italian coastguard ship for ten days and only allowed them ashore in Sicily when other states agreed to offer them shelter.
Lawyers from the Baobab Experience rights association lodged the appeal with the Strasbourg-based court.
The Eritreans - who were among 177 rescued migrants detained by Salvini on the Diciotti coastguard vessel - are also claiming damages of 42,000-71,000 euros from the Italian state for restriction of their personal freedom, their lawyers said on Wednesday.
The migrants were held on the Diciotti in conditions that observers described as "dire".
The Italian Senate is due to vote by late March on whether to accept a request from a special court in Sicily to allow Salvini to stand trial on kidnapping and other charges over the so-called 'Diciotti' incident.
If convicted in the case, Salvini faces between three and 15 years in jail.
