Sudanese Ministers review Libya torture reports

The Council of Ministers discussed reports about the torture of a number of Sudanese men in Libya on Thursday. Two of them have reportedly died as a result of the torture.

First Vice-President Lt. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih chaired the meeting which involved the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hamid Mumtaz and his report about the incidents in Libya.

A spokesman for the council said that the Libya Charge d'Affairs has apologised when he was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He claimed that “nine Sudanese nationals have been detained at an area which is outside of the control of the Libyan government. They were later released by the Libyan authorities”.

The spokseman added that these Sudanese nationals will be transported to Khartoum shortly.

Torture

A group of Sudanese nationals who had been kidnapped and tortured by human trafficking gangs in Libya were released from their captors by Libyan authorities in the night of 23 January.

Following the videos showing the torture of Sudanese men being tortured in Libya, the African Union has announced to investigate the cases. The videos were published on online media and aired on a Flemish TV channel, among others.

An activist reported to Radio Dabanga last week that two Sudanese died as a result of torture at the Tajoura Prison in Libya.

Sudanese Minister Ibrahim Ghandour has confirmed that during the release of the hostages Libyan authorities arrested four of the alleged kidnappers. The minister pointed out that there are currently and estimated 221,500 Sudanese nationals in Libya.