Misshandlung und Ausbeutung in libyschen Lagern

„Saturday marked two years since Italy, backed by the EU, did a deal to spend tens of millions of euros funding the Libyan coastguard, which intercepts boats heading for Italy and returns refugees and migrants to a war zone. While much of the justified outrage against European migration policies has been caused by the criminalisation of search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean, the deadliest sea route in the world, no one seems to be tracking the number of refugees and migrants dying in horrific conditions after being sent back to Libya as a direct result of EU policy.“

Vollständiger Text: The EU’s deal with Libya is sentencing refugees to death, in: The Guardian vom 5. Februar 2019.

Für Time schildert Sally Hayden, wie libysche Milizen Menschen auf der Flucht entführen, in Lagern misshandeln und mit Fotos über soziale Medien Geld von den Familien der Entführten erpressen.

„Smugglers in north Africa see refugees and migrants as a commodity. Tens or even hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have been held captive by smuggling gangs, who demand hefty ransoms, and torture those who can’t pay up. As in Mulugeta’s case, relatives and friends of those held captive are increasingly turning to Facebook to raise the sums.

In photos posted online, men or women, sometimes blindfolded, have their faces pressed to hard ground. Videos show men jolting as they’re tortured with hot plastic, before the camera zooms in on their face. In one picture, a couple sits with their children, the asking price for their lives written in the text over their head: $4,400. […]

As smuggling routes close down in Libya, partly because of European Union spending aimed at decreasing arrivals to Italy, militias who once offered a service in moving people are increasingly turning to violence and torture to make a profit.“