Libya’s attorney general announced Friday that a suspected gang member will stand trial over human trafficking linked to a mass grave.
The grave contained the bodies of 21 migrants, a grim discovery that casts fresh light on Libya’s enduring role in regional smuggling networks.
Prosecutors said the suspect belonged to a criminal group accused of organising illegal migration across Libya’s remote southeastern and eastern regions.
The gang allegedly operated in al-Kufra and Ajdabiya, moving people through desert corridors where lawlessness thrives and lives quietly disappear.
Authorities said 195 migrants were freed from captivity after being tortured to force ransom payments from families.
Investigators arrested one suspect, while other alleged members remain at large and are being actively pursued.
Officials did not identify the gang, nor explain how or when the 21 migrants died or were buried.
Images released by prosecutors showed bodies wrapped in black plastic, some partly covered by dirt like abandoned secrets in the sand.
Libya has long served as a gateway for migrants fleeing war and poverty across Africa and the Middle East.
The country has struggled with fragmentation and violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi.
The dangers persist at sea, where at least 42 migrants recently went missing after a boat capsized off Libya’s coast.
More than 1,000 people have died in the central Mediterranean since early 2025, over 500 of them off Libya, according to the IOM.
Libya remains split between rival eastern and western administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign supporters.
That political divide continues to nourish criminal networks, turning migration routes into marketplaces of suffering and silence.
