A former Libyan militia commander accused of overseeing systematic murder, rape, enslavement and torture in a migrant detention facility appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Tuesday, in what legal experts and human rights campaigners are calling a landmark moment in the pursuit of accountability for abuses against people attempting to reach Europe from Africa.
Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, 47, a senior officer in Libya's Special Deterrence Force — a powerful armed group that controlled detention sites in western Libya — faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role at Mitiga prison, located near Tripoli, between February 2014 and at least mid-2020. Prosecutors are asking judges to confirm the charges and send the case to trial, a process that will take three days. According to the prosecution's submission, at least 5,000 civilians were systematically tortured at the facility over six years, subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence as part of what the prosecution describes as an "institutionalised system of violence." El Hishri is alleged to have personally controlled the women's section of the prison, where female detainees were beaten, sexually abused and, in some accounts, tied to ropes and dragged around the compound while being struck. Prosecutors say there are reasonable grounds to believe he personally killed one detainee, while a significant number of others died from torture, starvation, untreated injuries or exposure to cold.
The case marks the first to reach a courtroom from the ICC's Libya investigation, which has been ongoing for more than 15 years — since the fall of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 plunged the country into chronic instability and conflict. El Hishri was arrested in Germany last year, reportedly while seeking medical treatment for a family member. Fifty-four victims have been granted participation in the proceedings, among them South Sudanese refugees now living in Europe who travelled to The Hague to attend. One victim, Lam Magok, who fled war in South Sudan and was detained multiple times in Libya during five years in the country, described his experience as "a living hell" and said the fight for justice belonged not only to him but to all migrants and refugees who suffered violence in Libya.
Human rights organisations welcomed the hearing as a significant step, while stressing how much remains unresolved. Eight ICC arrest warrants connected to post-Gaddafi violence in Libya are still outstanding, and a suspected co-perpetrator at Mitiga was arrested in Italy last year but released on a technicality and returned to Libya. Campaigners also pointed to the role of European institutions: since 2017, the EU and member states have supported the Libyan coastguard, which has intercepted migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean and returned them to facilities like Mitiga. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have described the abuses at such sites as a direct consequence of that cooperation. David Yambio, who was himself held at Mitiga between 2019 and 2020 and accuses El Hishri of beating him, called on Europe to end its support for Libyan militias, saying the bloc bore complicity in what took place.
The ICC itself is operating under considerable pressure: the United States has imposed sanctions on four of the court's judges over what it describes as illegitimate targeting of American and Israeli interests, and the court's chief prosecutor is currently under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, which he denies. Defence lawyers are expected to challenge the ICC's jurisdiction and have called for El Hishri's release. Nevertheless, for survivors and advocates, the hearing carries deep symbolic weight. "It sends a strong message to perpetrators wherever they are," Yambio said, "that they will be brought to account and justice will be delivered, even if it takes a long time."