Many migrants who had departed from Libya have claimed that they have been beaten and tortured in detention centers where they were detained prior to leaving, a nurse working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Lampedusa told Italy’s news website ANSA.
“They arrive on Lampedusa after two or three days at sea. They are migrants of various nationalities: Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Sudanese, and Syrians who have been worn down by the journey and violence suffered,” nurse Alida Serracchieri added.
In July, the Italian Parliament approved the government’s request to refinance the Libyan Coast Guard for the fifth consecutive year, despite the reported torture, deaths, and more generally the systematic violation of the most basic rights of migrants in Libya.
Since 2017, Rome and Brussels have spent about €1.1 billion euros to finance the Libyan Coast Guard, and the other competent authorities of the North African country.
Among the officials who received funding to fight against human trafficking, was the Head of the Coast Guard in the city of Al-Zawiya, Abdel-Rahman Al-Milad, more commonly know as Al-Bidja, a notorious human trafficker.
In traffickers’ camps as well as official detention centers, thousands of migrants are tortured for extortion purposes, and women often suffer sexual violence, leading to suicide from trauma.
Some underage girls have claimed that they had been raped in a prison run by the Ministry of the Interior in Tripoli.