An Italian court has sentenced a captain to a year in prison for handing migrants his ship's crew rescued over to the Libyan coast guard in 2018. The incident had sparked heated debate in Italy.
The bodies of 15 persons were recovered Monday evening, following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast, while 177 survivors were returned to land by the Libyan coast guard, according to UN agencies.
A UN report by human rights investigators in Libya details a number of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity against detainees and migrants in Libyan prisons. The investigators said that they now have a confidential list of suspects.
Hundreds of Moroccan nationals are being held in inhumane conditions in Libyan detention centers, a human rights group reports. The families are urging the Moroccan government to intervene.
Libyan authorities have returned more than fifty Egyptians who had tried to reach Europe by boat. Police in Libya also arrested two men suspected of human trafficking.
The reconnaissance aircraft Seabird filmed the sinking of a migrant boat off the coast of Libya on August 27. The harrowing footage shows people trying to cling for their lives to the keel of an overturned boat.
Survivors rescued by the NGO ship SOS Mediterranee say that they had been subjected to violence during their journey towards Europe.They say that had spent three days at sea prior to the rescue and had run out of water and fuel shortly after the journey began.
At least 17 Bengali migrants have drowned in a shipwreck off the Tunisian coast as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy from Libya. Some reports say that the number of deaths may yet rise.
Italian lawmakers have approved renewed funding to train Libya's coast guard. The vote came just one day after the release of a report outlining the violence that migrants rescued by the coast guard face in Libyan detention centers.
Migrant rights activists staged a protest in Rome because of a vote to renew Italy's cooperation with Libyan authorities. They demanded Italy stop funding and training Libya's coast guard, given that migrants returned to Libya face severe human rights abuses.
Italian prosecutors said they are seeking government permission to investigate footage purportedly showing the Libyan coast guard firing shots at a migrant boat in the Mediterranean Sea. The video was filmed by rescue organization Sea-Watch, who also filed the complaint.
Oxfam has asked Italy to stop funding Libya's coast guards, stressing the need for a change of approach with the direct management of migration flows.