The bodies of 28 migrants have been found by investigators at a detention center in the southern Libyan desert.
According to a statement released on Sunday, the grave was found by the Libyan Attorney General’s Office north of Kufra, where scores of migrants had been held.
76 migrants were released from the facility by security personnel. The illegal migrants had likely been deprived of their liberty, tortured, and subjected to cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment by a gang. Kufra is located near the borders of Egypt and Sudan in a desert region of southern Libya.
After years of civil war, Libya’s security situation is still precarious.
Armed groups run criminal networks for human trafficking, where migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are routinely exploited. Some of these groups collaborate with state agencies.
The most severe human rights breaches, including as forced labor, forced recruitment, illegal killings, and human trafficking for prostitution, are frequently reported.
The bodies of at least 65 migrants were discovered in a mass grave in southwest Libya last year. That was deeply shocking at the time, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Libya has emerged as a major transit hub for migrants attempting perilous desert and Mediterranean Sea crossings to reach Europe after the removal of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
According to Unicef, more than 2,200 migrants lost their lives or disappeared in the Mediterranean while attempting to reach Europe in 2024.