Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, Libya has been reduced to chaos, with Islamist groups filling the power vacuum left by the former dictator. It was in Libya in February 2015 that 20 Egyptian Copts and a Ghanaian were beheaded by the Islamic State group. Only a tiny fraction of Libya’s estimated 20,000 Christians are Libyans – most are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. They are allowed to meet in churches, but Libyans are not. Migrants stranded in Libya are vulnerable to pressure and violence; Christian migrants are extra vulnerable.
Islamists kidnap 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya
The BBC reports that 13 kidnapped Egyptian Coptic Christian workers have been freed Jan. 5; they were suspected to be abducted by Islamist militants in northern Libya around 2:30am on Jan. 3. This is the latest in a series of attacks on Egyptian Christians in Libya and occurred only a week after seven […]
4 men abducted in Libya for being Christian
The Libya Herald has reported that a family of four Egyptian men, who were targeted specifically because they are Christian, was kidnapped in Libya on August 27 near Sirte. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom said they were travelling with three Muslims when they were abducted at a checkpoint […]
Copts found dead in Libya
Seven Egyptian Christians have been found dead on a beach near the Libyan eastern city of Benghazi. The Copts, who were found tied up and with gunshot wounds to the head, were identified as Talaat Sidik Bassiouni, Hani Garas Habib, Nadi Garas Habib, Fawzi Fathi Sidik, Edward Nashed, Ayoub Sabri […]
Sharia enforced in Libya
Libya has voted to make sharia law the basis of all legislation. Two years after the NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still in messy transition with no new constitution and its temporary assembly caught in deadlock between an Islamist party and political rivals. As in Tunisia and […]
Death penalty fear for Libyans
“Why should people have to worry in the new Libya that they could face the death penalty over what someone else sees as disrespectful of religion?” – Human Rights Watch. Ali Tekbali and Fathi Sager, two Libyan National Party officials, may face death over posters made for the 2012 elections, if […]
Libyan human-rights official flees country after death threats
The head of the Libyan Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has resigned and fled to London, saying he’s received death threats. Hassan Al-Amin, prominent for his long opposition to the Gaddafi regime, recently spoke out against armed gangs and militias in his Misrata area. His self-imposed exile comes as hostilities against […]