From ... in Warfare Political History Scandal Propaganda Conspiracy — Sep 15, 2025

Libya: Investigate Cases of Two Missing Lawmakers

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(Beirut) – Libyan authorities should urgently investigate and provide information on two missing members of parliament after graphic images and video surfaced recently, increasing grave concerns for their safety, Human Rights Watch said today. In August 2025, a grainy image circulated on social media platforms that commentators said showed Seham Sergewa, a member of the Libyan House of Representatives abducted in July 2019, being physically abused. In May, photos and video footage circulated on social media showing Ibrahim al-Drissi, a House of Representatives member abducted in May 2024, chained and undressed, pleading his innocence. Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the images and video, which increase concerns about the parliament members’ wellbeing. “Eastern Libyan authorities and the military leadership should be doing all they can to address enforced disappearances in areas under their control and by forces under their command,” said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The families of those missing have a right to know what happened to their loved ones and obtain justice.” Both lawmakers, who were seized in Benghazi by unidentified gunmen, have not been heard from or seen since. No entity has acknowledged responsibility. Two rival authorities have been vying for control of Libya, the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), affiliated armed groups, and quasi-state forces control western Libya.

The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) and affiliated security apparatuses and militias control eastern and southern Libya. Libya’s House of Representatives is located in Benghazi. Human Rights Watch on September 1, 2025, wrote to the office of Khalifa Hiftar, commander of the LAAF, and to the Libyan general prosecutor al-Siddiq al-Sur, requesting information about Sergewa and al-Drissi, but received no response from the general prosecutor.

The LAAF replied on September 10 saying that, as a military institution, it did not conduct criminal investigations into the “crime against MP Seham Sergewa,” or forensic investigations such as determining the authenticity of photos or videos. It stated that any LAAF member who is found to be implicated in violations would be referred for appropriate judicial prosecution. On July 17, 2019, masked armed men stormed the Benghazi residence of Seham Sergewa and abducted her. Neighbors and relatives abroad told Human Rights Watch at the time that some of the cars used in surrounding the house during the incident were linked to the LAAF group known as the 106th Battalion.

The former interim government that administered Benghazi at the time of Sergewa’s abduction denied that it or any forces linked to the LAAF had any role in her abduction. Its interior minister claimed, without providing evidence, that unidentified “terrorist groups who infiltrated Benghazi” abducted her. An image circulated on social media around August 11 that commentators said shows Sergewa being physically abused. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify claims in the media about video footage depicting her abuse, as well as where or when the image – which was reportedly a screenshot from a video – might have been taken. Human Rights Watch has not reviewed the video, which is not in public circulation. If authentic, the image of Sergewa would be the first since her abduction more than six years ago. Unidentified gunmen abducted Ibrahim al-Drissi on May 16, 2024, after he left an event in Benghazi.

There was no information about his whereabouts until May 2, 2025, when reports, videos, and photos began surfacing in news outlets and social media platforms that purported to show him, semi-nude, chained by the neck in a cell-like structure, and in inhumane conditions.

The Benghazi Internal Security Agency, an armed group operating under the LAAF, contended that the video appearing to show al-Drissi is an artificial intelligence generated “deepfake.” While such claims are difficult to verify, Human Rights Watch reviewed the video and consulted a group of experts from Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, an initiative of the nongovernmental organization WITNESS. Of the five teams that contributed to the analysis, four teams found no significant evidence of AI manipulation. One team noted possible signs of manipulation due to inconsistences in lighting in shadows but noted that the poor quality of the video file could confuse their tools and lead to false positive results.

The cases of Sergewa and al-Drissi are only two among dozens enforced disappearances and killings of journalists, activists, and politicians in eastern Libya since 2014, amid widespread impunity for militias and armed groups. Human Rights Watch has also documented scores of enforced disappearances in western Libya. A United Nations statement in August found that there is a “pervasive and systematic practice of enforced disappearances across the country,” and that the “persistence of incommunicado detention, the existence of unofficial detention facilities where torture and ill-treatment are widespread, and the routine denial of due process feed into this grave pattern.” Enforced disappearance is prohibited under Libyan and international law, and the authorities are required to investigate such crimes. Under Libyan Law No. 10 (2013) on the Criminalization of Torture, Enforced Disappearances and Discrimination, enforced disappearances are punishable with up to eight years in prison. Libya’s justice sector faces significant challenges and its judiciary is unwilling and unable to conduct meaningful investigations into serious human rights violations and international crimes. Libyan media reported on May 12 that al-Siddiq al-Sur, the general prosecutor, visited Benghazi to review the status of the investigation into al-Drissi’s disappearance, but his office has not publicly disclosed any additional information. Libyan authorities should conduct a prompt and transparent investigation to determine the authenticity, timing, and location of circulating photos and videos purporting to show Sergewa and al-Drissi, Human Rights Watch said. Libya’s general prosecutor should report on the steps his office has taken to investigate the cases. He should also disclose what measures his office has taken to review unresolved enforced disappearance cases in Libya, how many such cases his office is investigating, and whether any suspects are currently in detention or have been held accountable for alleged enforced disappearances. Enforced disappearances are considered a violation of multiple human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 2 of the Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance states that enforced disappearance “is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.” “A struggling and dysfunctional justice system is no excuse to normalize enforced disappearances in Libya,” Salah said. “Senior Libyan civilian and military officials who have information on cases of enforced disappearance but fail to take appropriate action could be found complicit in the crime.” .

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Libya: Investigate Cases of Two Missing Lawmakers

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