Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Explosion in Mashhad, east of Iran.
Iran state TV: Destruction in attack on Keshavarz significant.
Iran state TV: Keshavarz area is entirely residential; Preliminary estimates indicate that two drones struck student dorm.
Iran state TV: Casualties reported in Israeli drone strike on Tehran's Keshavarz Blvd.
Qatari PM: "Israel's" violations could drag region to war.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: US, British, and Israeli air defenses worked to intercept last missile launch from Iran.
Israeli media: Losses of just two nights of strikes are close to 1 billion shekel ($280 million).
Israeli media: Iranian strike targeted power station in Khadera and Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea.
Explosions heard in Tel Aviv
Iran state TV: Ballistic missiles launched from across Iran against "Israel".

Europe's Detention Hell-Hole in Libya: Migrants Raped, Tortured, Beaten

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: The New Yorker
  • 1 Dec 2021 23:25
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

The EU planned and funded a detention facility in Libya that kidnaps migrants before they reach Europe.

  • x
  • The EU's Detention Facility in Libya: Rape, Torture and Beatings
    Migrants sit in the courtyard of a detention center in Libya (UNICEF)

The New Yorker, in collaboration with The Outlaw Ocean Project, an investigative non-profit that probes into lawlessness at sea, got to the bottom of something akin to a prison-hell that has been kidnapping migrants and throwing them into a cement-depot-turned-prison in Tripoli, Libya.

Many of the migrants reported in the investigative piece came from countries like Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. 

The cement storage depot, according to the news article, reopened in January 2021, with higher walls and barbed wire on the fences to prevent escape. The storage was dubbed 'al-Mabani', which is Arabic for The Buildings, and it is a detention facility.

On the gate, there was a sign that wrote “Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration," and armed guards in blue and black guarded a blue-colored shipping container - presumably an office - which ran a prison that trapped in over 6,000 migrants - as of September 2021 - merely crossing the Mediterranean before being interrupted by Libyan Coast Guards. 

The Libyan Coast Guard may enjoy a name that sounds official, but it is rather a militia-backed and EU-funded group. The Trust Fund of the European Union pitched in tens of millions of dollars to strengthen the Libyan Coast Guards, turning them into a menacing proxy force. 

The New Yorker narrates the story of Aliou Cande, a migrant from Guinea-Bissau, who, at 3 AM, arrived in Al-Mabani: On a rubber dinghy holding more than a hundred migrants, on his way to join his two brothers in Europe, a Libyan Coastal Guard caught them and dragged them to the prison, pushing them into Cell No.4, which already held over 200 victims. 

There was no way anyone could know if one was kidnapped in Al-Mabani except through using one of the guards' phones, which the migrants had to pay for. Migrants argued who got to sleep in the shower because it had more ventilation, 'food' was presented in dog bowls, and there was just a toilet for every hundred migrants. Non-governmental organizations and human rights firms documented abuses which include victims being regularly abused and beaten and electric-shocked, children being raped by the guards, men and women being sold into forced labor. 

Related News

Lithuania sues Belarus for €200mn over border crisis

Most migrants in mega-prison lack criminal records: Report

Now, who funded all this? The European Union. 

“The E.U. did something they carefully considered and planned for many years,” Salah Marghani, Libya’s Minister of Justice from 2012 to 2014, told The New Yorker. “Create a hellhole in Libya, with the idea of deterring people from heading to Europe.”

In the past six years, according to The New Yorker, the EU has fretted over the financial and political costs of dealing with migrants, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, and has created a 'shadow immigration system' to curb migrants before reaching Europe. 

The EU did this by training and equipping a quasi-military organization - the Libyan Coast Guard - to sabotage humanitarian rescue operations and kidnap migrants crossing the Mediterranean. 

Al-Mabani is a profitable place, at least for the guards - the captured were made to pay around 2,500 Libyan dinars, the equivalent of $500, if they were to break free from the prison. 

The journalists were beaten, too

The research team of journalists was beaten, looted, and threatened by the EU-funded coast guard. The writer, Ian Urbina, was dragged from his hotel room, "One [armed man] held a gun to my forehead and yelled, “Get on the floor!” They placed a hood over my head, kicked and punched me, and stepped on my face, leaving me with two broken ribs, blood in my urine, and damage to my kidneys. Then they dragged me from the room."

The team was taken to an interrogation room where Urbina was beaten again, and his colleagues were intimidated and sexually harassed. The team's belts and jewelry were looted from them, and the writer was placed in an isolation cell. 

The captors, who claimed to be the Libyan Intelligence Service, told Urbina during the interrogation that it was illegal to interview migrants about abuses in al-Mabani.

The Libyan Intelligence Service is an arm for the National Unity government, which also happens to administer and supervise al-Mabani. 

  • Migrant Crisis
  • Europe
  • Libya
  • European Union

Most Read

Iranian missiles impact Israeli sites in Tel Aviv in 2nd wave

Iran's missiles impact 'strategic' Israeli site in Tel Aviv

  • Politics
  • 14 Jun 2025
Smoke rises after an Iranian ballistic missile directly struck Tel Aviv, Occupied Palestine, June 13, 2025 (AP)

Op. True Promise 3: Iran's ballistic missiles strike Tel Aviv

  • MENA
  • 13 Jun 2025
'Israel' launches major strike against Iran's nuclear program

'Israel' launches massive aggression on Iran

  • MENA
  • 13 Jun 2025
The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency flies in front of its headquarters during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP)

Tehran unravels documents exposing secret IAEA-'Israel' collusion

  • Politics
  • 12 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks to journalists after a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
Politics

Iran confirms targeting Haifa oil refinery, vows continued retaliation

An Israeli military working dog searches rubble for survivors in an area hit by a missile fired from Iran, near Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, Sunday, June 15, 2025.(AP)
Politics

Ex-Israeli General warns of strategic defeat in war with Iran

Steve Bannon speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP)
Politics

Steve Bannon accuses 'Israel' of pushing US into war with Iran

The Haifa oil refinery burns after being targeted by an Iranian missile, June 15, 2025 (Social Media)
Politics

Iran causes significant damage to Haifa oil refinery, pipelines

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS