Human Rights Watch urges Libya to investigate fate of missing MPs

Human Rights Watch has called on the Libyan authorities to launch a swift and transparent investigation into the enforced disappearances of parliamentarians Siham Sergewa and Ibrahim Al-Dressi, after new images and videos surfaced showing them in disturbing conditions.

Hanan Salah, Associate Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch, said eastern authorities and military leaders bear responsibility for addressing enforced disappearances, stressing that families “have the right to know the fate of their loved ones and obtain justice.”

The organisation urged Attorney General Al-Siddiq Al-Sour to publish a detailed report outlining steps taken in the two MPs’ cases, provide figures on other ongoing disappearance investigations, and clarify whether any suspects have been detained or prosecuted.

On 1 September 2025, Human Rights Watch submitted requests for information to Khalifa Haftar’s office in Benghazi and to the Attorney General. While Al-Sour’s office has not responded, Haftar’s office said it does not conduct criminal investigations but would refer any implicated members to the judiciary.

The group stressed that enforced disappearance is prohibited under Libyan and international law, and accused the authorities of failing to conduct serious investigations—fuelling a climate of impunity.

It added that widespread disappearances in Libya have targeted journalists, activists and politicians, many of whom are held in unofficial detention sites where torture and denial of legal rights are common, according to UN findings.

Human Rights Watch warned that weak judicial institutions cannot be used as an excuse to normalise enforced disappearances, and said civilian and military officials who withhold information or fail to act may be considered complicit in the crimes.

Sergewa was abducted in Benghazi in July 2019. In August 2025, a blurred photograph emerged online allegedly showing her subjected to abuse. Al-Dressi was kidnapped in May 2024; images and videos later circulated of him shackled in degrading conditions. Experts who examined the material said there was no clear evidence of digital manipulation.