Rights monitor says 1,900 Sudanese detained in Libya, alleges abuse and extortion
September 16, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – Around 1,900 Sudanese migrants and refugees, including women and children, are being held in detention centres across Libya amid allegations of torture, extortion, and human trafficking, a Sudanese rights group said on Wednesday.
Libya hosts an estimated 590,000 Sudanese displaced since conflict broke out in April 2023, while authorities in the divided North African country conduct periodic security sweeps against foreign nationals and undocumented migrants.
The Gezira Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement that authorities were holding more than 1,200 people of various nationalities, including Sudanese women and minors, at the Qanfouda detention centre in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The rights group documented what it described as degrading conditions at Qanfouda, including severe shortages of food, drinking water, and medical care amid outbreaks of communicable diseases. It said detainees were subjected to prolonged confinement without legal basis or access to judicial authorities.
Between 600 and 700 people were also being held at the “Prison 71” facility in Tobruk, the group said, adding that most had been picked up at land borders or intercepted while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Detainees there face unsanitary conditions and lack adequate healthcare, the monitor said.
The group reported allegations of unlawful confiscation of personal property, including cash, mobile phones, and identity papers, at the Tajoura and Bir al-Ghanam centres in western Libya.
Witness testimonies gathered from the Osama and Al-Assa detention sites described physical torture, degrading treatment, and financial extortion, with guards demanding ransoms from detainees’ families in exchange for release, according to the group.
The monitor called on Libyan authorities to open independent criminal investigations into the abuse claims, hold those responsible to account, and release anyone held without charge. Libyan authorities could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations.
Young people constitute the majority of those detained, having fled targeted attacks and armed clashes in Sudan only to face unlawful confinement and exploitation en route, the group added.
Under international refugee conventions, states are prohibited from expelling or returning individuals to territories where their lives or freedom are threatened.
Libyan authorities have previously deported groups of Sudanese, including those diagnosed with infectious diseases, to the desert border area where Sudan meets Libya and Egypt. That border zone is currently held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, leaving it without official Sudanese state representation.