Political activists kidnapped in Misrata amid strong condemnation

Jul 8, 2024 | Libyan actors

On 8 July, in the centre of Misrata, political activist Moatassim Billah al-Araibi and his companion Muhammed Ishtewi were abducted by unidentified armed men in civilian clothes and taken away in two blacked-out cars. A couple of hours later, Ishtewi was released after being beaten. The whereabouts of the 29-year-old al-Araibi remained unknown.

On 9 July, the Municipal Council of Misrata and the Nobles & Elders of the city strongly condemned the kidnapping of al-Araibi and Ishtewi, stressing that the Council has been following up on the incident in cooperation with security agencies and judicial authorities. They emphasized that such actions represent a threat to the freedom and the rights of the citizens. Furthermore, they called on all security agencies to declare a state of alert and exert more efforts to search, investigate and quickly uncover the fate of the two young men.

On 10 July, UNSMIL called for the immediate and unconditional release of the abducted political activist and of all other arbitrary detainees in the whole of Libya. Those responsible must be held accountable. Several foreign embassies, including the American and the French, joined UNSMIL and expressed their deep concern about the kidnapping.

Based on information provided by Ishtewi to the Special Tasks Department of the General Directorate of Security Operations, a house in eastern Misrata, where the two kidnapped persons had been held previously, was raided by the Counterterrorism Force, but found empty. On 11 July, al-Araibi was released by his kidnappers.