Videos recorded by a reporter for the Italian newspaper *La Repubblica* appear to show militia men tied to the Tripoli government of Libya engaging in human smuggling in the Mediterranean.
The clips and photographs were taken during a patrol of an NGO that specializes in sea rescues in the world’s deadliest sea route for migrants, where between 25,000 and 40,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014, according to various NGOs and UN sources.
The evidence shows men wearing the uniforms of the 80th Special Operations Battalion of the 111th Brigade – a militia led by the Libyan deputy defence minister, Abdul Salam Al-Zoubi, kicking migrants into the sea near the rescue vessel.
After being rescued, they were identified as a set of Iraqi Kurdish migrants who had been taken out of a detention center in Libya operated by the militia hours before. The migrants said four people who refused to accompany the militia men were gunned down by the Libyans.
The Tripoli government in Libya has been patrolling the Mediterranean on behalf of the EU since 2017, when the Italian government struck a deal to prevent migrant crossings from the North African country, which is one of the major hubs of migration and human trafficking, with nearly 900,000 migrants recorded in a country of 6 million.
The evidence proves beyond a doubt that far from restraining immigration, Libyan authorities are directly engaging in deadly human trafficking, another human rights abuse following the dozens of occurrences documented by multiple NGOs, some of whom were kicked out of the country after the Tripoli government accused them of aiding Subsaharan migrants to “replace” the Arab-Berber population of Libya.
Last month, a European rescue vessel of the NGO SOS Mediterranee operating near the Libya coast [was strafed by Libyan coastguards with hundreds of bullets](https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/66626/europe-demands-answers-from-libya-after-rescue-boat-shooting) in the worst incident of this kind yet. The European Commission demanded explanations from the Libyan authorities, while the humanitarian workers stressed that the boat that shot them had been donated by Italy to the Libyan coast guard in 2023.
WAGRAMWAGRAM on
People criticize the Haftar government because it disrespect diplomacy and kick ambassadors out, but the Tripoli government isn’t better on people smuggling
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!ping AFRICA&EUROPE&IMMIGRATION
Videos recorded by a reporter for the Italian newspaper *La Repubblica* appear to show militia men tied to the Tripoli government of Libya engaging in human smuggling in the Mediterranean.
The clips and photographs were taken during a patrol of an NGO that specializes in sea rescues in the world’s deadliest sea route for migrants, where between 25,000 and 40,000 people have died or gone missing since 2014, according to various NGOs and UN sources.
The evidence shows men wearing the uniforms of the 80th Special Operations Battalion of the 111th Brigade – a militia led by the Libyan deputy defence minister, Abdul Salam Al-Zoubi, kicking migrants into the sea near the rescue vessel.
After being rescued, they were identified as a set of Iraqi Kurdish migrants who had been taken out of a detention center in Libya operated by the militia hours before. The migrants said four people who refused to accompany the militia men were gunned down by the Libyans.
The Tripoli government in Libya has been patrolling the Mediterranean on behalf of the EU since 2017, when the Italian government struck a deal to prevent migrant crossings from the North African country, which is one of the major hubs of migration and human trafficking, with nearly 900,000 migrants recorded in a country of 6 million.
The evidence proves beyond a doubt that far from restraining immigration, Libyan authorities are directly engaging in deadly human trafficking, another human rights abuse following the dozens of occurrences documented by multiple NGOs, some of whom were kicked out of the country after the Tripoli government accused them of aiding Subsaharan migrants to “replace” the Arab-Berber population of Libya.
Last month, a European rescue vessel of the NGO SOS Mediterranee operating near the Libya coast [was strafed by Libyan coastguards with hundreds of bullets](https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/66626/europe-demands-answers-from-libya-after-rescue-boat-shooting) in the worst incident of this kind yet. The European Commission demanded explanations from the Libyan authorities, while the humanitarian workers stressed that the boat that shot them had been donated by Italy to the Libyan coast guard in 2023.
People criticize the Haftar government because it disrespect diplomacy and kick ambassadors out, but the Tripoli government isn’t better on people smuggling