Libya to try a gang member linked to a mass grave of 21 migrants for human trafficking
CAIRO (AP) — A member of a criminal organization linked to a mass grave where the bodies of 21 migrants were found will be tried on human trafficking charges, Libya’s attorney general’s office said Friday.
The office said in a statement on Facebook that the gang member was referred to court. Authorities found evidence that the criminal gang was organizing illegal migration and human trafficking in the city of Al Kufra in southeastern Libya and the city of Ajdabiya in the east of the country. The identity of the gang was not specified in the statement of the chief prosecutor.
Libya became one Main transit point for immigrants They are fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos after a 2011 uprising toppled and killed long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
It remains unclear how the 21 immigrants died, when they died, or exactly when and where they were found. The attorney general’s office released images Friday showing bodies wrapped in black plastic bags and some remains partially covered in dirt. The Associated Press was not immediately able to independently verify the footage.
In the statement, it was stated that 195 immigrants were released by the criminal organization after being detained and tortured in order to obtain ransom from their families. According to the statement made by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorities arrested one of the members of the group, and the remaining members are being followed.
Many migrants who use the risky sea route to reach Europe in search of a better life do not survive. Lately, at least 42 people were missing and presumed dead According to the International Organization for Migration, a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Libya.
The latest shipwreck adds to the rising death toll in the Central Mediterranean, where more than 1,000 people have died since the beginning of 2025, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. More than 500 of them disappear off the coast of Libya.
After Gaddafi’s killing, Libya was divided into two with rival administrations in the east and west. supported by armed groups and foreign governments. The western part of the country is governed by the government of Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli, while the eastern part is administered by the administration of Prime Minister Ossama Hammad.
