By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 200 migrants have been freed from what Libya’s security forces describe as a secret prison in the town of Kufra in the southeast of the country following their illegal detention in “inhuman conditions”, Reuters quoted two security sources from the city as saying on Sunday.
The sources who pleaded anonymity, said that security authorities had discovered an underground prison, nearly three meters deep, believed to be operated by a Libyan human trafficker.
One of the sources said the prime suspect is yet to be arrested.
“Some of the freed migrants were held captive up to two years in the underground cells,” Reuters said, quoting the source.
Another source said what the operation discovered could be seen as “one of the most serious crimes against humanity that has been uncovered in the region.”
“The operation resulted in a raid on a secret prison within the city, where several inhumane underground detention cells were uncovered,” one of the sources added.
The migrants freed from the custody are from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea, including women and children, the sources said.
Kufra is situated in eastern Libya, about 1,700 kilometres from the capital Tripoli.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe through dangerous routes across the desert and over the Mediterranean. This has heightened since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
Last week, at least 21 bodies of migrants were found in a mass grave in eastern Libya, with up to 10 survivors in the group bearing signs of having been tortured before they were freed from captivity, two security sources told Reuters.
