More than 100 migrants, including five women, were freed from captivity after being held for ransom by a gang in eastern Libya, the attorney general announced Monday.
The group had been forcibly detained in Ajdabiya, about 160 kilometers from Benghazi, and subjected to torture to extort ransom payments from their families.
Libya remains a perilous transit route for migrants fleeing poverty and conflict, aiming to reach Europe via the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has seen a rise in smuggling networks exploiting vulnerable migrants desperate for passage.
Authorities arrested five suspects linked to the trafficking ring, hailing from Libya, Sudan, and Egypt, according to officials. Photos posted by the attorney general and Ajdabiya security showed migrants cuffed and bruised, revealing the brutality they endured.
This incident echoes a grim pattern, with mass graves recently uncovered in Libya’s southeast containing bodies of migrants tortured by similar gangs. In February, 28 bodies were found near Kufra, followed by 19 more in the Jikharra area, exposing the deadly scale of migrant abuse.
As of December 2024, the United Nations recorded approximately 825,000 migrants from 47 countries within Libya’s borders. The escalating crisis prompted recent talks between the EU migration commissioner, southern European ministers, and Libya’s unity government prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
Their discussions focused on curbing smuggling networks and addressing the growing humanitarian disaster unfolding across Libya’s desert routes. The rescue offers a rare glimpse of hope amid the dangerous journey faced daily by thousands seeking a better life across the Mediterranean.
