Libya coastguard intercepts more than 800 refugees: UN

IslamNews – Hundreds of Europe-bound refugees were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast and taken into detention over the last 24 hours, according to a United Nations agency.

The International Organization for Migration’s Libya branch tweeted on Friday that more than 1,000 refugees have recently departed from Libya’s shores, escaping “dire humanitarian conditions”.

More than 800 of them were stopped by the Libyan coastguard and sent to the North African country’s notorious detention centres, the IOM said.

In the years since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that removed and killed longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for refugees and migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Source: Reuters