Carola Rackete defied Italy’s ban on migrant rescue ships by forcing her way into the port of Lampedusa last week. She tells the Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo she would do it all again, even though she faces a lengthy trial and a possible jail sentence. Plus: Simon Jenkins on the leaked diplomatic cables of the UK’s Washington ambassador, which were highly critical of Donald Trump

On 12 June the crew of the rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 pulled a group of migrants from an inflatable raft drifting off the Libyan coast. Its German captain, Carola Rackete, was denied entry into the Italian port of Lampedusa but eventually forced her way in past military vessels.

When she disembarked with the 42 rescued migrants she faced a mixed reception. Some of the crowd gathered on the quay cheered her but others hurled abuse and threats. She was immediately arrested and is facing the prospect of a long trial on charges of aiding illegal immigration and attempting to ram a patrol vessel. The Guardian correspondent Lorenzo Tondo has spoken to her and describes to India Rakusen the actions of a woman being hailed as a hero for facing down Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who has called her a ‘pirate’.

Also today: the columnist Simon Jenkins on the row over leaked memos from the UK’s ambassador in Washington, which described the Trump administration as ‘uniquely dysfunctional’ and said it ‘could end in disgrace’.