After the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya entered a period of political fragmentation and recurring armed conflict. In western Libya, SDF/RADA became one of the most influential armed actors in Tripoli. As a central part of their consolidation of power, SDF/RADA has maintained control over the Mitiga compound, which includes an airport, other strategic assets and a prison complex in which Libyans and migrants and refugees are arbitrarily detained and systematically abused.
People on the move who end up in Mitiga Prison arrive through human trafficking or slave trade, through violent interceptions at sea and forced return to Libyan detention, or abduction by armed groups. For them, Mitiga Prison is one part of a broader migrant detention industry in Libya, in which people are systematically commodified and abused for labor, profit, and power within the country’s conflict economy.
These are not a series of isolated abuses but a coordinated policy of containment. Libyan and European actors each contribute essential parts to a common plan: intercepting people at sea, returning them to Libya, and maintaining a cycle of violence and exploitation on land. European institutions and states provide vessels, training, and operational coordination — all in full knowledge of the consequences.
El Hishri is not the only Mitiga-related suspect sought by the ICC. In January 2025, Italy arrested Osama Elmasry Njeem pursuant to an ICC arrest warrant, but returned him to Libya shortly afterwards, underscoring the ongoing challenges of securing state cooperation and accountability for international crimes in Libya
