The Times | 14.02.2017

Video shows Libyan coastguard whipping rescued migrants

Libyan coastguard officers have been accused of regularly whipping and beating the migrants they rescue, and threatening even to kill them — and the claims are backed up by video footage shown to The Times.

It shows heavily armed men in military fatigues repeatedly assaulting the migrants they have fished out of the Mediterranean near Sabratha, west Libya. Dozens of sub-Saharan Africans, including women and children, can be seen cowering in the flimsy boats they set sail in as they are lashed with plastic pipes, kicked in the face and screamed at.

The footage, filmed in September, is the first known recording of the assaults and will put pressure on Britain and the EU to cancel aid programmes intended to equip and train the rescue […]