Cairo, Egypt, April 21 (IPS) – Last June, the youth of Mit Al Korama gathered on the doorstep of one of their houses one summer evening to tell stories about the citizens of villages and neighboring villages successfully crossed the Mediterranean to Europe.
Some, they heard, returned with large sums of money and built European-style houses for their families. Others have chosen to stay in the European Union and encouraged their brothers to do the same.
A young man in his thirties from Talkha named “Mohamed Fakih” was among the group, and he said he had assisted many illegal migrants to the Italian coasts.
Despite the Egyptian government’s warnings against illegal immigration and not to visit Libya, some young people continue to seek to emigrate illegally to Italy via Libya. Egyptian and Libyan smugglers put them at risk of being drowned or kidnapped by gangs and armed militias for ransom.
Fakih informed young Mit Al Korama that there would be room on a boat that would arrive in Italy in ten days. It could be theirs if they pay him $5000.
Ahmed Emad, 27, who has a diploma in tourism and hospitality but has no job, is one of five young people from the village looking for a better life in Europe. To finance this trip to Italy, his family sold everything they owned and borrowed the rest.
“The mediator directed us to the Egyptian-Libyan border city of Salloum, where we met a group of smugglers who assisted us in crossing the mountain roads and out of sight of the border guards. I went to Al-Masad, Libya”. Emad told IPS. “The smugglers started treating us differently there.”
Emad added: “As soon as we arrived, they pushed us into a huge building filled with contraband, fuel, sheep and cows, and people like us were waiting for their turn to migrate.
Smugglers relentlessly abused and insulted immigrants in the warehouse. When they complained to Fakih, the mediator took their money, he advised them to wait patiently until the boat docked to bring the group to their final destination.
Emad added: “We were kept in a barn for five and a half months, sleeping in a barn, drinking from empty gas tanks and eating only one meal a day.
His father, Emad Eldanaf, said they had no contact with the smugglers in Libya and were initially unable to reach the young men, which worried them. Finally, contact was made.
“There are 28 men from our village on the boat. The most recent group has returned in the last two weeks and we are still negotiating with the militia about the remaining three,” Eldanaf told IPS.
Emad’s experience was reflected by Ibrahim Abdullah and his brother Kamal.
“We moved between several warehouses between Sabratha and Zuwara – 120 kilometers west of Tripoli. On the eve of November 9, they told us that we would sail from the coast of Ajilat to Italy in a few hours. more,” Abdullah told IPS.
“In the end, we all switched to boats, about 50 of us.”
The boat set sail at 11pm.
“By dawn, the water had already seeped into the boat. We tried to drain the water until we got frustrated,” Abdullah explained. “Death is just a few steps away.”
According to Mr. Abdullah, the migrants had asked for assistance from Italian authorities, who said they would wait until the boat was closer to the Italian coast before intervening.
The Tunisian authorities also ignored them. It was clear that they would sink with the ship and perish.
“We knew that calling the Libyans would get us arrested, but we went ahead and did it,” said Abdullah, explaining their desperation.
“At noon, the Libyan militia army captured us and transported us to the port of Tripoli, dividing us into two groups, one group was sent to Prison 55 and the other to Bir Al Ghanam prison.
Bir al-Ghanam is a town in western Libya, located south of Zawiya. It was the site of several battles during the Libyan Civil War. Anti-Gaddafi forces took control of it on August 7, 2011, just weeks before capturing Tripoli.
“We were called ‘commodities’ by the Libyan militiamen. They made us wish we could die to get rid of this pain. My father agreed to pay a ransom for our release after I begged him.” , Abdullah recounted. “The militia suspected that some families would not pay the ransom so they killed the detainees and threw their bodies in the desert. Two members of my group died and were thrown into the desert without being buried.” .
Emad, Kamal and Abdullah stayed with their militia for another four months. Lice and scabies have been at their center all that time. In the end, their family reached an agreement with the kidnappers, agreeing to pay $6,000 for Kamal and Abdullah, while Emad’s family had to pay $5,000 to free him.
Haj Riad, a Libyan smuggler, acted as a middleman in paying the ransom. The money was transferred to several Libyan bank accounts, where he distributed it to the militia and transported three young men back to the Egyptian border.
Umm Ayman, a 60-year-old mother, sold a few carats of her land to raise 150,000 Egyptian Pounds ($10,000) to support her two sons on their travels. Two of her three sons were later kidnapped along with Emad and Abdullah.
A few months later, she had to sell her house, sheep, cows and remaining belongings, paying $13,000 to get them back.
Ayman told IPS: “We sold everything we owned to allow the kids to travel, and we borrowed to bring them back. Even my mother’s gold earrings had to be sold. to pay the ransom”.
“When my children returned at the end of January, they searched for Fakih, the mediator, and discovered he had run away with his family.”
The family said he continued to drag his victims into a vicious circle as young people tried to find a better life in Europe.
A son’s desperate plea to his father
“I beg you, father, get us out of here; my friend, Muhammad Misbah, is in good health, and I was close to death yesterday. Do whatever it takes to get us out. get out of here; pay the ransom, whatever it takes You and Ibrahim’s mother try to do whatever.
This article is part of a series of features from around the world on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Airways Corporation. The Global Sustainability Network (GSN) is pursuing United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 with a particular emphasis on Goal 8.7, “taking immediate and effective measures to eliminate it.” forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and ensure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and to by 2025 end child labor in all its forms”. The origins of the GSN stem from the efforts of the Joint Declaration between Religious Leaders signed on December 2, 2014. Religious leaders of different faiths gathered to do the work. working together “to defend human dignity and freedom against extreme forms of indifferent globalization, such as exploitation, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking”.
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