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Othman Toure: Guinean immigrant who escaped Libya after 4 years of slavery

The Associated Press reported the story of an illegal immigrant fleeing Libya in mid-September, after years of suffering inside the immigration detention centers run by the Ministry of Interior in Tripoli.

In a report, the agency said: The Guinean immigrant Othman Toure (25 years old), was severely beaten, and was crying from the pain of repeated attacks and torture, and threatened inside his prison to kill or pay 2500 Libyan dinars for his release, until he was able, in August 2017, to call his brother’s phone and asked him for the price of his life, which is at stake.

In the call, Toure said: “I am in prison in Libya, they will kill me if you do not pay 2,500 dinars within 24 hours.”

Within days, according to the Associated Press; Toure’s family transferred approximately $550 to secure his freedom from a government detention center in Libya, yet he was not allowed to leave. Instead, he was sold to human trafficking gangs and enslaved for another four years.

Toure is among tens of thousands of migrants who have been subjected to torture, sexual violence, and extortion at the hands of guards in detention centers, where Libya is a major hub for migrants fleeing poverty and wars in Africa and the Middle East.

The Guinean immigrant continued his interview with The Associated Press, along with 20 other migrants, on board the rescue ship “Geo Barents”, adding that he had been detained with thousands of migrants, in trafficking warehouses and government detention centers in western Libya, over the past four years.

Toure was among 60 migrants who fled Libya on September 19, through two unseaworthy boats, and were rescued a day later by the “Geo Barents” ship. of abuse, beatings, death threats, and slavery in Libya, inside government and other detention centers run by armed groups

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