Bani Walid detention camp

In order to extort their families, detention guards reportedly torture, rape, or threaten prisoners, who face similar conditions in other camps in the region.

[2] After the 2011 fall of the government of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya became a major site of transit for migrants desperate to reach Europe, and Bani Walid is an important node in the migration route.

[3] Reuters and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontières, or MSF), which has worked in the region around Bani Walid since 2017, have stated that migrants are often kidnapped or tortured for extortion.

[8] Ilda Boccassini, an Italian prosecutor who has spent her career prosecuting the Mafia, stated that conditions in Bani Walid were similar to those in transit camps throughout the region.

[4] In February 2020, Kidane Habtemariam Zekarias was arrested in Addis Abeba, head of Bani Walid detention camp, but in 2021 he managed to escape by bribing guards.