300 migrants bound for UK kidnapped and threatened with kidney removal: BBC
Families were pressured to pay $5,000 per captive as evidence suggested torture and possible organ removal, the BBC reported.
- Last summer, a Libyan militia kidnapped 300 Iraqi Kurdish migrants heading to the UK, imprisoning them in a guarded compound and subjecting them to torture, the BBC has learned.
- A dispute involving smuggler Noah Aaron triggered the kidnapping, as the militia claimed he owed money from a previous deal. Libya's 'huge vacuum of government' enabled the exploitation, according to UN adviser Anthony Dunkerley.
- Families faced ransom demands of $5,000 per hostage, with captors warning that payment would be taken 'with a kidney' if funds were delayed. Former captives reported nearly 180 people sharing a single cell.
- In January, the Iraqi government organized a flight that returned 110 hostages to Iraqi Kurdistan, though it remains unclear how many migrants remain captive. Survivors have urged friends and family to avoid the dangerous journey to Europe.
- Despite these risks, illegal migration from Ranya continues, as the region remains 'riddled with active smuggling networks,' according to a Chatham House report. Hemn Merany of the Kurdistan Regional Government warned that the exploitation cycle persists.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Over 300 Migrants Headed for the UK Kidnapped in Libya for Ransom, Threatened With Forced Kidney Removal
More than 300 migrants headed for the UK were kidnapped in Libya for ransom and threatened with kidney removal after survivors narrate one of the most disturbing escalations of violence along North African migration routes in recent years. The men, all from Iraqi Kurdistan and reportedly en route to Europe via Libya, were abducted by armed militias who demanded thousands of dollars from families and allegedly threatened to harvest organs if paym…
On their way to the UK – kidnapped and threatened with organ harvesting
An investigation by the BBC has brought to light the kidnapping of more than 300 immigrants from Iraqi Kurdistan who were trying to reach the United Kingdom via the North African route and who, once in Libya, were held by an armed militia, subjected to torture and threatened with organ removal if their families did not pay thousands of dollars for their rescue. The investigation of the British public chain reconstructs one of the most serious kn…
Iraqi Kurdish migrants’ perilous journey
Migrants often endure perilous journeys, be it crossing the Darien Gap on foot, the Mediterranean Sea in plastic dinghies, or the Sahara Desert under extreme heat. Along the way, there can be people who seek to exploit these migrants, as the BBC reported was the case for at least 300 Iraqi Kurds who were captured by Libyan militias in the North African country last summer. Over 100 have since been flown back to Kurdish-held areas of Iraq, some b…
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