Middle East
A group of Kurds, after their arrival in Erbil on September 10, 2025, months after being detained in Libya en route to Europe. Photo: KRG
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Migrants from the Kurdistan Region, reportedly dozens from Sulaimani’s Raparin administration, are pleading for rescue after being detained for nearly a week in Libya’s coastal areas while attempting to reach Europe, their families told Rudaw on Sunday.
Mohammed Ahmed, the father of one of the detainees, said his 18-year-old son was detained by Libyan armed groups along with dozens of other young men while attempting to travel by boat from Tripoli toward Europe.
Ahmed said his son left Raparin three months ago, hoping to reach Europe, and had been stranded in Libya for some time due to poor weather conditions.
Regarding their condition and whereabouts, Ahmed said the family has only been able to speak with his son once since his detention, for less than a minute. “My son told us: Their situation in prison is very bad, and they are begging to be rescued,” he said.
A voice message, purportedly from one of the detained migrants and shared with Rudaw by another detainee’s father, said: “We are arrested at the consulate.”
“I swear to God we will die here; there is no food, there is nothing,” the man said, urging Iraqi authorities to intervene and repatriate them. “There are people who have been here for 20 days, every night they recite the shahada [Muslim profession of faith], they are about to die.”
Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli, told Rudaw in October that they were informed by “The relevant authorities in the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in Libya” that a Kurdish migrant died of a heart attack while in a detention center.
The Libya-Italy route is increasingly popular among youth from Raparin trying to get to Europe, as tighter restrictions have made the Turkey-Greece crossing less viable. Dozens have been repatriated to the Kurdistan Region after being stranded in Libya.
The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth emigration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.
The Libya-Italy journey typically takes around eight hours, compared to up to 72 hours through Greece, but can cost as much as $17,000 per person, much of it paid to militias that control Libya’s coast, according to Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees.
Abubakir Ismael contributed to this report.
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