Leaked images reignite case of MP Siham Sergiwa

Siham Sergiwa, a Libyan Member of Parliament and prominent women’s rights advocate, has returned to the centre of national debate after the circulation of leaked images allegedly showing her body — six years after her abduction in Benghazi.

The images, shared across media platforms and social networks, appear to depict the MP’s body bearing signs of assault and killing. Their emergence has reignited one of Libya’s most high-profile cases of enforced disappearance, drawing renewed attention from both local audiences and international human rights observers.

Sergiwa was last seen on 17 July 2019 during an interview on the pro-Haftar channel Libya Al-Hadath, where she reiterated her opposition to Khalifa Haftar’s military campaign against Tripoli. In that appearance, she called for an end to the fighting through dialogue and the formation of a national unity government — positions that human rights groups say may have made her a target.

Later that night, masked and armed men stormed her home in Benghazi after she returned from a parliamentary meeting in Cairo. They shot and injured her husband before abducting her to an unknown location, destroying nearby surveillance cameras in the process.

Since then, authorities in eastern Libya have remained silent on the case, despite repeated appeals from local civil society groups, international rights bodies, and the United Nations to clarify her fate.

Confirmed reports have linked her abduction to the “Blood Owners Brigade,” a militia with ties to Khalifa Haftar’s forces and accused by rights monitors of carrying out extrajudicial killings. Activists who circulated the recent images have renewed accusations against members of this Haftar-linked group.

In response to the latest developments, a Libyan MP has called for an urgent investigation, warning security authorities of the risks of leaving such claims unaddressed.

Marking the sixth anniversary of her disappearance last month, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya reiterated its call for a full, transparent investigation and accountability for those responsible. The mission stressed that Sergiwa’s case forms part of a wider pattern of enforced disappearances, citing the October 2024 abduction of MP Ibrahim Al-Darsi, who later appeared in leaked footage inside a detention cell.

Human rights advocates warn that such practices — prohibited under Libyan law and punishable by at least seven years in prison — may also amount to crimes under international law, potentially subjecting perpetrators to prosecution before the International Criminal Court.