The UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has urgently called for an independent investigation into “disturbing” images circulating online of abducted Libyan parliamentarian Ibrahim el-Dirsi.
The images reportedly show signs of torture.
UNSMIL expressed alarm over Dirsi’s “enforced disappearance” after he was kidnapped in Benghazi in May 2024.
Libya’s Al-Ahrar TV broadcast photos and a video on Monday appearing to show Dirsi in a prison cell, wearing only shorts and with a padlock chained around his neck.
UNSMIL has requested its digital forensic experts to verify the authenticity of the footage.
The UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli condemned the conditions depicted as “degrading, shocking and inhumane,” criticizing Khalifa Haftar’s forces.
Pro-Haftar Al-Masar TV quoted lawmakers who dismissed the images as “fabricated” and potentially created using artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, the eastern-based interior ministry attributed the situation to “unidentified criminals affiliated with a gang” and stated that a “thorough investigation” is underway.
UNSMIL also denounced the “widespread and systemic abuses in detention facilities” across Libya, citing arbitrary detentions, abductions, torture, enforced disappearances, and deaths in custody as serious human rights violations and potential international crimes prosecutable by the International Criminal Court.
The UN mission insisted that “Libyan authorities must ensure these practices immediately cease and that perpetrators are brought to justice.”
The case echoes the 2019 abduction of Siham Sergewa, another Benghazi representative who remains missing after criticizing Haftar.
