Human rights activist Tariq Lamloum announced the death of at least three Somalis in September and October inside warehouses and homes of “human traffickers.”

Lamloum said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the families of the three victims were contacted by “kidnapper gangs from inside the city of Bani Walid and they were sent videos of torture.”

“It is clear from the clips they’ve received that the immigrants are being detained inside homes,” he said, noting that “since 2019, the detention of immigrants inside homes in cities has increased, after security measures are tightened on human traffickers in the desert; and some security forces have demolished their warehouses in Kufra, Shuwayrif and Tobruk.”

Lamloum called on local authorities and dignitaries in the cities to intensify their efforts to search for the kidnapped inside and outside the cities, adding, “Every region knows very well its people who are involved in such gangs and human trafficking.” 

According to a previous statistic by the head of the International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, the number of migrants in official detention centers in Libya has reached 5,000 individuals, “but this number represents only a small portion of those detained in the country.”

Source: The Libya Observer