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19/09/2025 – 10/10/2025

/ Migrants and Refugees / By
  • A private rescue vessel operated by SeaWatch has come under fire by the Libyan coastguard, leading to the drowning of one person. This marks the second time in a month that Libyan patrol officers have attacked a humanitarian rescue boat. According to SeaWatch, the assault took place overnight from September 25 to September 26 2025, shortly after 66 people had been rescued by its vessel Sea-Watch 5. The organization has accused the EU of being complicit in this attack, highlighting that this Libyan patrol boat had been given to the Libyan coastguard in 2018 as part of an EU deal signed the previous year. This episode comes not long after the rescue ship Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranean, had come under intense gunfire by Libyan patrol boat on August 24. 
  • On 30 September 2025, Sea Watch reported that one person drowned and three were rescued off the Libyan coast after their boat capsized during a chase by the Libyan coastguard. The dinghy carrying 30 people had been stopped by a Libyan patrol boat, and when it attempted to flee, high waves caused four people to go overboard. The three survivors were intercepted by the Libyan authorities and transferred back to Libya.  
  • According to InfoMigrants, the Libyan Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) announced on Monday, 22 September 2025, that it had deported 207 Egyptian migrants, as well as 176 Bangladeshi nationals. Bangladeshi officials alleged that the migrants had been “detained, tortured and kidnapped in Libya” before being sent back home. 
  • On 19 September 2025, France24 reported that Libyan authorities have been accused of severe human rights violations by the NGO Refugees in Libya. In the beginning of September, the organisation published two videos showcasing the inhumane conditions in Libyan migration detention centers, as well as physical abuse toward refugees. France24 established the location of the videos as Al-Butnan Centre in Tobruk, Libya.  
  • As reported by The Guardian on 18 September 2025, video material and photographs published in the Italian press appear to show, for the first time, a militia allied with the Libyan government involved in people smuggling in the Mediterranean. The material was captured by a journalist from La Repubblica who accompanied volunteers on a rescue boat run by the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans.