Somali men Omar Osman and Anwar Otman Hasan were today awarded €5,000 each after a court found that their human rights had been breached when they spent two and a half years in prison more than they should have.

Mr Osman and Mr Hasan were in November 2012 convicted over their involvement in the gang rape of a Maltese woman. They were given a four-year jail term but walked out of the court free men having spent far longer than that in custody.

They had been taken into custody in 2007 after the woman alleged to have been gang raped by four men at the Marsa Open Centre in the early hours of March 19 of that year. Mr Osman had repeatedly claimed he was innocent.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Kris Scicluna appeared for Mr Osman and Mr Hasan.