“Eleven unarmed civilian volunteers, including doctors and humanitarian workers, remain unlawfully detained in Libya. These individuals are members of the Global Sumud Land Convoy, a non-violent humanitarian initiative involving 230 participants from 21 countries, transporting ambulances, medical supplies, and mobile homes overland in an effort to break the siege on Gaza.”
This is according to the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which stated that the activists have been subjected to arbitrary detention, communication blackouts, and sustained psychological pressure.
The group detailed several cases, including that of 24-year-old Tunisian technical team member Mehdi Bouzguenda, who was arrested by Libyan authorities near the Tunisian-Libyan border on 23 May amid unverified espionage allegations.
On 24 May, a 10-member negotiation delegation attempting to coordinate safe passage was detained near Sirte, taken to an undisclosed location, interrogated without interpreters, and forced to sign statements written in Arabic. Libyan authorities later accused the group of violating entry and assembly laws, despite all members reportedly holding valid visas and entering the country legally.
On 2 June, after spending more than a week in detention without appearing before a judge, the delegation’s detention was extended by a further 10 days, while access to legal representation continued to be denied.
“This is a textbook case of arbitrary detention under international human rights law, violating Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,” the GSF said.
The organisation has called on Libyan authorities to immediately release the detainees, restore communication with their families and legal representatives, and uphold the country’s obligations under international law. It warned that the continued detention of humanitarian volunteers could result in increased scrutiny of Libya’s human rights record.
Photo: @globalsumudtr/X [Some food supplies carried by the Sumud Fleet have reached Gaza’s shores]
