More than 32 testimonies have been provided by migrant women who were victims of detention in the Abu Salim Detention Center, under the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. These testimonies have emerged since December 2023 and continued until December 2024, confirming the occurrence of horrific violations during the detention of women. This includes the methods of searches conducted before they were admitted to the detention “hangar.”
All the testimonies align in confirming that female prison guards, who work under the center’s director, Colonel Samia Mohammed Al-Senussi, and in the presence of male guards, force migrant women to remove their clothes under the pretext of searching them to prevent the smuggling of phones or money. These searches are reportedly carried out to confiscate any money the women might have if they were returned from the sea. All testimonies state that the guards ordered the women to strip completely, including removing their undergarments, and that the searches included invasive inspection of sensitive areas. The women were forced to stand in degrading positions. All this occurs while the male guards are present, and the searches are conducted inside a large hangar equipped with surveillance cameras. Many victims have commented that even if the men were not watching directly, they could see the women through the cameras.
Yasmin, one of the victims who was returned from the sea last year and transferred from the Busta naval base to Abu Salim Detention Center, stated:
“There were five of us women who arrived at the Abu Salim Center, and we were received by three female guards. They asked us to take off our clothes, and we thought it would stop at removing our coats and outer garments. However, the guard began opening and touching sensitive areas of my body in front of the male guards. I felt like I was in a marketplace for prostitutes where my body was being inspected for purchase.”
“Mami,” another victim, expressed her sorrow and shock despite nine months having passed since the incident. She said:
“I arrived with a group of women, and there were children with us. We were forced to remove our clothes. One of the women begged the guard, saying, ‘We are Muslims; how can you do this?’ I pleaded with her not to remove my undergarments as I was sick and using a sanitary pad, but she didn’t believe me. She forced me, in front of the children, to take off my underwear and bend over so she could check. At that moment, I wished I had drowned in the sea rather than come back to prison and experience what happened.”
This is not the first case. There are dozens of complaints about the policies enforced by the center’s director, Samia Al-Senussi. According to victims, the center is also a place of exploitation, where women are sent to work in homes and other places. The female guards reportedly force the detainees to wash their own clothes and the clothes of the male guards.
The Ministry of Interior in Tripoli must immediately stop isolating people in Abu Salim, a location that remains outside the scope of oversight and accountability. A serious investigation must be conducted, with a demand to review all surveillance camera recordings from recent periods. The degrading searches and humiliation of women and minors in Libya must be stopped.
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