Libya
Somalis held: ~300in prisons in eastern and southern Libya, by the count Libya's own anti-migration department gave Somalia's human rights commission in August 2026; thousands more are believed to have passed through smugglers' detention
Somalis trying to reach Europe are held in two kinds of places in Libya: state prisons and migration detention centres, and the underground camps run by smugglers, where people are tortured until families pay. Both hold Somalis today.
What is known
3 August 2026
A delegation of Somalia's Independent Human Rights Commission visited Ganfuda prison in Benghazi: seventy Somalis held there, eight of them women, one with her three-year-old child. Libya's head of the department for combating illegal migration said nearly three hundred Somalis were detained in prisons across eastern and southern Libya. allafrica.com
April 2026
Somalia and Libya agreed in Tripoli to repatriate about four hundred Somalis held in Libyan detention. hiiraan.com
2025–2026
Repatriation flights: 184 Somalis airlifted in September 2025; nearly 130 assisted in July 2026; 171, including three minors, returned on an IOM charter in September 2026, after exploitation and abuse by smugglers. ftlsomalia.com
Standing
Libya does not deport Somalis to Somalia; Somalis in state detention often stay until they can pay their way out or an embassy secures release. Smugglers' camps around Bani Walid and Kufra hold people for ransom under torture; a Somali man was sentenced to life in Italy in 2017 for torturing migrants in one such camp. globaldetentionproject.org
Open questions
- Where are the other 230 Somalis Libya says it holds — which prisons, which towns?
- What happened to the women held at Ganfuda, and to the child?
- Who was paid, and how much, for people released from smugglers' camps? Which families in Somalia paid?
- What did returnees find on arrival in Mogadishu: assistance, or detention?
Cases
| Date | Who | Country | What happened | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09 | 171 Somalis returned from Libya (three minors) | Libya | IOM charter flight to Mogadishu after months stranded and detained; exploitation and abuse by smugglers reported. | Returned to Somalia | ftlsomalia.com |
| 2026-08-03 | Seventy Somalis at Ganfuda prison, Benghazi (eight women; one child aged three) | Libya | Visited by Somalia's Independent Human Rights Commission; Libya's anti-migration chief put the total in eastern and southern Libya at nearly three hundred. | Detained; repatriation agreed in principle | allafrica.com |
Answer one of these questions
If you were held in Libya, or you know someone who was, or you work in the system: give a testimony, pitch a piece, or WhatsApp OPR at +252 61 977 5580. In Somali or English. Named or not.