New Delhi, Jan. 28 -- A Dutch court convicted an Eritrean man on Tuesday of people smuggling and extortion and sentenced him to the maximum 20 years imprisonment, saying that he and his accomplices subjected migrants to "cruel, violent, and degrading treatment."

Tewelde Goitom, also known as Amanuel Walid, was found guilty by the Overijssel District Court of leading a criminal organization that mistreated migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe and extorted money from their families in the Netherlands to pay for the risky voyages.

The court rejected his defense that he was not the person identified by witnesses as a leader of a notorious smuggling network that shipped people from Libya to Europe and often onward to t...