Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned what it described as the use of “excessive” force against migrants who were stranded in the Niven ship at the port of Misurata and forcibly forced them to leave the ship.
In a report published on its official website, the organization said that the Libyan security forces transported 79 migrants and asylum seekers forcibly from the Panama-flagged ship to the hospital and the city’s accommodation centers, explaining that security forces used tear gas after the migrants refused to leave the ship for 10 days.
The organization called on the Libyan authorities to allow United Nations and non-governmental personnel to visit persons who had been removed from the ship, find alternatives to their detention, and investigate the use of “unlawful force” with them.
On the other hand, the commander of the central sector of the Coast Guard, Tawfiq Sikeer, denied that they broke into the ship with the permission of the prosecution and the Undersecretary of Immigration Affairs and under the supervision of the Attorney General’s Office. He pointed out that a number of migrants used force against security personnel, and tried to attain their weapons from them.
In a statement to ArraedLg, Sikeer said that some of the immigrants in the ship were carrying white weapons and sharp machines and bottles of incendiary, noting that the process of evacuation and break-ins are documented by embassies of immigrant and legal procedures.
He noted that all the migrants had returned to the sheltering center were in good health, except for two “only” receiving treatment at the Royal Clinic in Tajoura under the auspices of the International Health Organization. He stressed that the organizations that provided humanitarian assistance to the migrants also provided them with high-quality communications devices and that he is in contact with these organizations, expressing his surprise at the actions of these organizations, which are evident to have a special agenda, he said.
The cargo ship, “Niven” flag bearing the state “Panama” saved 10 days ago illegal immigrants off the coast of Libya who refused to leave the ship and get off in Libya.
