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27-06-2026
TRIPOLI: Four pro-Palestinian campaigners detained in Libya for about a month have been released, the Global Sumud Flotilla group has said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the organization said Achraf Khoja from Tunisia, Matias Rodriguez from Uruguay, and Domenico Centrone and Leonarda Alberizia, both from Italy, had all arrived in Tunis. Six others are expected to be released in the next 24 hours, it added. In an earlier statement, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani welcomed the news of the released Italians, saying the two, along with Rodriguez, who has Italian citizenship, were handed over to Italy’s consul in Benghazi. They will return to Italy on Wednesday, he said on social media.
More than 400 activists were arrested last month in international waters on board dozens of vessels while sailing towards Gaza to break a siege imposed on the enclave by Israel.
The activists held in Libya were part of a separate group which tried to reach the strip by land. They had staged a hunger strike in protest at their detention, the Global Sumud Flotilla said.
According to Amnesty International, on May 24, 2026, an armed group affiliated with Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), which is allied to the de facto authorities in eastern and southern Libya, the Libyan National Army, arrested the 10 humanitarian activists from eight different countries as they were en route to the city of Sirte to negotiate the convoy’s passage with local authorities.
The activists were seeking approval from the authorities for the convoy to continue the journey through Libya and Egypt to reach Gaza.
“Following periods of enforced disappearance ranging from two to nine days, prosecutors interrogated them before ordering their pretrial detention pending investigations into charges of ‘assembly without authorization,’” Amnesty said.
Background
The GSLC is a civilian humanitarian mission that departed from Mauritania on 25 April 2026 with the aim of breaking the illegal siege on Gaza, delivering life-saving humanitarian aid and supporting rehabilitation efforts.
On 3 June 2026, prosecutors interrogated the 10 on the charge of “assembly without authorization”, with a lawyer present. Prosecutors ordered their pretrial detention for 10 days. After the questioning, authorities transferred them to the headquarters of the ISA in Benghazi. For the first time since they were arrested, they were allowed to call their families.
Since their hunger strike, several detainees have experienced health complications. Despite this, they are receiving little to no medical care at a detention facility run by the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in Benghazi, an armed group operating under the de facto authority of the LAAF with well-documented record to involvement in arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearances. As of 4 June 2026, the ISA continued to deny one detainee regular access to their diabetes medication. Several detainees experienced low blood sugar levels; some fainted and one suffered a seizure.
Libya has been divided between two entities and parallel institutions competing for legitimacy and control since 2014. The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, appointed through an UN-mediated process in March 2021, has been struggling to exercise effective control over Libyan territory. GNU’s rival, the Benghazi-based “Libyan Government”, is allied to the LAAF, which controls and carries out government-like functions in Benghazi, the second-largest city in Libya, and large swathes of eastern and southern Libya, including the Sirte district. Where de facto authorities, such as the LAAF are in control of territory and exercise government-like functions, they are bound by human rights obligations. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
