KRG Searches for 10 Missing Citizens After Libya Repatriation
The KRG has completed procedures to repatriate 11 young men detained in Libya and is continuing efforts to locate 10 other missing citizens.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The Kurdistan Regional Government said Monday that procedures have been completed to bring 11 young men from the Kurdistan Region back from Libya, following months of detention and efforts to determine their whereabouts.
The repatriation was carried out following direct instructions from Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, according to an official KRG statement.
After reports emerged that several citizens had gone missing in Libya, Barzani instructed the Ministry of Interior and the Department of Foreign Relations to take urgent steps to locate them, secure their release and arrange their return.
The government said all official paperwork and other procedures involving the 11 men have now been completed and that they are expected to arrive back in the Kurdistan Region in the coming days.
The operation comes after some of the young men spent nearly eight months in prison under extremely difficult conditions, according to the statement.
The KRG said they had faced a constant risk of death during that period.
Efforts are continuing to locate another 10 citizens from the Raparin Independent Administration whose whereabouts have remained unknown for some time.
The Ministry of Interior and Department of Foreign Relations are working with the Iraqi Embassy in Libya and KRG representations to trace them and determine their situation.
The latest KRG announcement follows earlier efforts by the Iraqi Embassy in Libya to identify Kurdish migrants who had entered the country irregularly.
On Sunday, Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in Libya, said the embassy had established the whereabouts of nine Iraqi migrants and had begun procedures for their voluntary return to the Kurdistan Region.
Al-Sahaf said embassy officials had verified their condition, carried out medical examinations and remained in contact with their families to reassure them that the men were safe.
The embassy also issued passports to the migrants in order to accelerate their return procedures.
Monday's KRG statement gives the updated number of citizens whose repatriation arrangements have now been completed as 11.
The government did not provide further details on when or where the men had been detained, or the precise circumstances that led to their imprisonment.
The case has renewed official warnings over the dangers faced by young people attempting to reach Western countries through irregular migration routes.
The KRG urged young people and their families not to resort to such journeys, warning that irregular migration can expose travelers not only to death and serious physical danger but also to detention and prosecution for violating the laws of countries along the route.
Libya has become one of the locations through which some migrants attempt to continue toward Europe, but the KRG statement focused specifically on the risks demonstrated by the experience of the young men now preparing to return.
For their families, the immediate development is that the administrative and legal process needed to bring the 11 men home has been completed.
For the government, however, the case remains unresolved while the search continues for the other 10 missing citizens.
The KRG said its institutions would continue coordinating with Iraqi diplomatic authorities in Libya and other relevant channels until those still missing are located.