INTRODUCTION
The month of October 2025 witnessed the continuation of grave violations against civilians across Libya, perpetrated by security agencies and armed groups affiliated with the authorities in both the east and west of the country. These included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance, alongside the ongoing indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure and residential areas, amid a continued absence of any serious or effective measures for investigation and accountability.
During October, the LCW field team documented the killing of three (3) civilians, including one child, in the cities of Benghazi, Kufra, and Zawiya, in the context of military and security operations. The field team also documented the injury of fifteen (15) civilians in Misrata and Zawiya as a result of indiscriminate shelling within residential areas or during armed clashes, as well as one (1) case of arbitrary arrest of a civilian in the city of Al-Khums.
In the context of migration, the field team recorded a worsening of the humanitarian situation for migrants. Thirty-seven (37) migrants, including thirteen from Bangladesh and three Libyans, were killed following the explosion of their boat off the coast of Zawiya. In addition, thirty-nine (39) bodies, believed to belong to migrants, including one woman, were found washed ashore in the cities of Sabratha, Zuwara, and Sorman. Several migrants were also injured during these incidents.
Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) holds the Public Morality Protection Agency – Benghazi Branch, and the Criminal Investigation Department in Kufra, both affiliated with the government accredited by the House of Representatives (HoR), as well as the Joint Operations Force (JOF) and Battalion 24, affiliated with the Government of National Unity (GNU), and the local authorities in the western coastal cities, legally responsible for the documented violations. These entities bear direct or indirect responsibility for committing, or failing to prevent and hold perpetrators accountable for, these violations.
LCW emphasises that this report does not reflect all violations committed during October. It is limited to the cases the LCW field team documented and verified in accordance with the organisation’s established documentation methodology, taking into account confidentiality, the informed consent of victims and their families, and risk assessment regarding the publication of information.
DETAILS
October 2
On 2 October, Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) documented the death of thirty-seven (37) migrants, including thirteen from Bangladesh and three Libyans, following the explosion of a boat under unclear circumstances while carrying forty-two migrants departing from the city of Al-Zawiya towards Europe. The explosion completely burned the boat. The bodies were transferred to Al-Zawiya Teaching Hospital for legal procedures, while the injured were taken for the necessary medical treatment.
October 6
On 6 October, LCW documented the recovery of one (1) unidentified body from the seashore in the city of Sabratha, believed to belong to a migrant. The body was retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent – Sabratha branch and transferred to Sabratha Teaching Hospital to complete legal procedures.
October 7
On 7 October, LCW documented the killing of Mousa Abdel Karim Zagi (34 years old) in the city of Al-Kufra, south-eastern Libya, after he was shot by members of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Al-Kufra Security Directorate, affiliated with the government accredited by the House of Representatives (HoR).
October 11
Between 5 and 11 October, LCW documented the discovery of fifteen (15) unidentified bodies along the coastline stretching between central Zuwara and the Mellitah area, believed to belong to migrants. The bodies were recovered by the Emergency Medicine and Support Centre and transferred to the hospital to complete legal procedures before being buried in Abu Kammash cemetery in the city of Zaltan.
October 12
On 12 October, LCW documented the killing of a child, Moaz Marwan Al-Marghani (12 years old), and the serious injury of his brother, Abdulrahman (6 years old), along with three (3) other civilians who sustained minor injuries, after a random shell of unknown origin fell on a residential neighbourhood in the Al-Shurafa area of Al-Zawiya city.
October 22
On 22 October, LCW documented the arbitrary arrest of the Head of the Local Youth Council in the Municipality of Al-Khums, Ali Nasser Abu Rzayza (34 years old), by five unidentified armed men driving civilian vehicles south of Al-Khums city. He was taken to an undisclosed location, and contact with him has been lost since, with his fate remaining unknown at the time of publication.
October 23
On 23 October, LCW documented the injury of at least eleven (11) civilians, including four migrants and one child, with varying degrees of wounds, in addition to damage to several civilian buildings. The incident occurred during armed clashes that broke out within residential neighbourhoods in the Al-Sikt and Al-Ghiran areas, south of Misrata, between the JOF and the 24th Battalion, both affiliated with the GNU.
October 27
On 27 October, LCW documented the death of Mahmoud Aoun Al-Farjani, an employee in the Security and Safety Department at Benghazi Medical Centre, who died as a result of injuries sustained from torture while in detention at the Public Morality Protection Agency – Benghazi Branch, under the Ministry of Interior of the government accredited by the HoR.
A verified video reviewed by LCW showed clear signs of torture on his body, which led to renal and circulatory failure resulting in his death.
October 30
Between 28 and 30 October, LCW documented the discovery of twenty-two (22) unidentified bodies, including that of one woman, on the shoreline near Sorman Port. The bodies belonged to migrants whose boat had sunk while attempting to reach Europe. At least ninety people were rescued, while the bodies were recovered by the Libyan Red Crescent – Sabratha branch and transferred to the hospital to complete legal procedures.
On the same date, 30 October, LCW also documented the discovery of one (1) unidentified body on the beach of the Al-Wadi area in Sabratha, believed to belong to a migrant. The body was recovered by the Libyan Red Crescent and taken to the hospital for legal procedures.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) urges the authorities in both eastern and western Libya to take all necessary measures to prevent renewed clashes and indiscriminate attacks within populated areas. LCW also calls on the Office of the Attorney General to open independent and transparent investigations into indiscriminate attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure that endanger the lives of civilians, to make the findings public, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable in line with international fair trial standards.
- LCW further calls on the Libyan Attorney General to open independent and transparent investigations into all serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial and unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, abduction, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities, and to ensure accountability in accordance with international fair trial standards.
- LCW reiterates its call on the Libyan authorities to fulfil their responsibilities in protecting the lives of migrants along desert and maritime routes, and to cooperate with relevant international organisations to establish effective search and rescue mechanisms, determine the fate of the missing, and ensure the identification of human remains. LCW also calls for an independent and transparent investigation into shipwreck incidents and human trafficking–related violations, and for those responsible to be held accountable in line with international standards.
- LCW urges the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reconsider its decision to conclude investigations in Libya by the end of 2025, as such a step risk entrenching impunity amid the absence of political will, capacity, and effectiveness within domestic justice mechanisms, which remain unable to meet their obligations under the principle of complementarity enshrined in the Rome Statute.
- LCW renews its call on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Member States to establish an independent international investigative mechanism as a successor to the former Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), to investigate serious human rights violations in Libya, identify those responsible, and support accountability processes and efforts to end impunity.
- Finally, LCW calls on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and international stakeholders to intensify pressure on all parties to respect human rights, advance transitional justice efforts, uncover the truth, ensure redress for victims, and put an end to the entrenched culture of impunity that continues to fuel violations.
