More than 12,000 people are officially detained in 27 prisons and detention facilities across Libya, with many more in “inhumane conditions in facilities controlled by armed groups or 'secret’ facilities,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a report obtained by The Associated Press Monday. “I remain gravely concerned by the continuing violations of the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya,” he said in the report. ADVERTISEMENTGuterres noted that thousands of individuals in the official statistics provided by Libyan authorities could not challenge the legality of their detention. Many of those detained are refugees or migrants traveling across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and were ordered to return to Libya by the nation's coast guard, the outlet reported. The U.N. previously called out crimes against humanity in Libya in October, after the nation detained more than 5,000 migrants, many of them women and children.

Source: Libya Today January 18, 2022 01:15 UTC