NATO’s ‘new’ Libya, slavery and torture hell

This video says about itself:

Ivorian migrants returning from Libya, recount slavery ordeal
21 November 2017

At least 155 Ivorians have returned to Abidjan from Libya. Their repatriation has been organised by the International Organisation for Migration. It comes days after international news network CNN broadcast a report on the slave trade of migrants in Libya. The story has sent shockwaves through sub-Saharan Africa and angered governments and rights groups. Thuli Tshabalala has more.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

‘Torture, executions and lawlessness in Libyan militia prisons‘

Armed militia hold thousands of men, women and children without trial in Libya in prisons. It violates massive human rights, reports a UN report. Prisoners are neglected, tortured and executed.

In recent years, politicians, activists, journalists and people loyal to the Gaddafi regime have been picked off the streets without warning. Their family usually has no idea where they are. Prisoners sit in small cells without daylight or ventilation. Contact with the outside world is not allowed.

Just in 2017, hospitals in the capital Tripoli counted 37 bodies with torture injuries. The UN researchers rely on testimonies, medical reports, photos and eyewitness reports. …

According to the report, the Libyan government has not attempted to curb or encapsulate the rebellious militias in the existing system. Instead, the militias have been used to enforce the law. The government has, among other things, armed and paid the militia.

In this way, they have become increasingly powerful and have taken matters into their own hands, including setting up prisons.

Sometimes the militias are also affiliated with the Libyan government, according to the report. The researchers have no idea how many people are stuck in the militia prisons.

Italy’s deal with Libya to ‘pull back’ migrants faces legal challenge. Migrants who are returned to Libya subjected to grave human rights violations, lawsuit claims: here. And here.