Former Libyan Judicial Police Official Involved in Mitiga Prison Torture Designated for U.S. Entry Ban; Rubio: "Will Not Tolerate Violence Targeting Christians"

WASHINGTON, United States

A former judicial police official involved in the torture of detainees at facilities including Mitiga Prison in the Libyan capital of Tripoli has been publicly designated as barred from entering the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a press statement released on the 30th (local time) in Washington titled "Designation of Libyan Judicial Police Official for Involvement in Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment" that the United States designated former Libyan judicial police official Osema Almasri Habeesh Najeem and his wife Aml Faraj Mohamed Makhluf pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State Appropriations Act. The U.S. Department of State specified that Najeem was involved in gross violations of human rights, namely the torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees at Mitiga Prison and al Jadida Prison. The U.S. Department of State noted in the statement that under this designation, Najeem and his immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.

The U.S. Department of State Stated That Najeem's Murder, Forced Labor, and Targeting of Christians Make Him a Danger to Both the Libyan and American Peoples

Secretary Rubio stated in the release, "Najeem's actions, including murder, forced labor, and targeting Christians and members of other minority groups, make him a danger to the Libyan people and to the American people." The U.S. Department of State explained that the designation was made pursuant to Section 7031(c) procedures, which publicly identify individuals involved in gross violations of human rights and render them and their immediate family members ineligible for entry into the United States. According to the U.S. Department of State, the legal authority for this public designation is Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (Div. F, P.L. 119-75), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027 (Div. A, P.L. 119-103).

According to the tags in the U.S. Department of State's statement, the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs were jointly involved in this measure.

Secretary Rubio Stated, "The Trump Administration Will Not Tolerate Violence and Abuse Against Christians"

Secretary Rubio said in the statement, "The Trump Administration will not tolerate violence against Christians or members of other religious minority groups." Rubio added, "Today's action taken by the Department of State demonstrates once again the Administration's unwavering commitment to hold perpetrators accountable and protect the American people from their actions."

On the same day, Secretary Rubio also wrote on his official X account, "Today I am designating former Libyan judicial police official Osema Almasri Habeesh Najeem for his role in the torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of detainees," emphasizing that "The Trump Administration will not tolerate violence and abuse against Christians or members of other religious minority groups."

Assistant Secretary Riley Barnes, who leads the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, also stated on his official X account on the same day, "Osema Almasri Habeesh Najeem committed gross violations of human rights, including the persecution of Christians. Today, the U.S. government is taking action."

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs also publicized the designation on its official X account on the 30th by posting the statement's title and full text link, highlighting the move from the regional bureau responsible for Libya. The U.S. Department of State recorded in its "2023 Report on International Religious Freedom" that the U.S. Embassy to Libya operates remotely from Tunis, Tunisia, and that U.S. officials make regular visits to Libya. According to the Department, embassy officials have maintained ongoing dialogues on religious freedom matters with local and national leaders, human rights organizations, religious figures, and activists.

The U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report Recorded That Crimes Against Humanity Were Committed at the Mitiga Detention Facility

In the "2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Libya," the U.S. Department of State recorded that the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya (FFM) established reasonable grounds to believe in its final report that the Special Deterrence Forces (SDF) controlling the Mitiga detention facility in Tripoli committed crimes against humanity. According to the Department, the Fact-Finding Mission stated that not a single detainee interviewed during its three-year mandate was held in adequate conditions. The U.S. Department of State recorded that torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment were pervasive across all prisons investigated by the mission, regardless of the controlling entity or geographic location.

According to the U.S. Department of State, a local nongovernmental organization reported in February 2023 that 72-year-old Fathi Mohamed Khawaja died from illness and deliberate medical neglect during his six-year detention at Mitiga Prison controlled by the Special Deterrence Forces. The Department recorded that the Fact-Finding Mission documented two young men perceived to be gay who were forced by heavily armed men to unlock their mobile phones before being turned over to the Special Deterrence Forces at the Mitiga airport prison complex, where they were tortured by a man referred to as the "sheikh." According to the Department, prisons were severely overcrowded, and detainees were deprived of adequate water, food, sanitation, hygiene, light, exercise, medical care, access to legal counsel, and communication with family members. The U.S. Department of State recorded in the same report that while monitoring and training of prison guards by international organizations had largely ceased, training for the judicial police continued.

UN Fact-Finding Mission Final Report Identified Najeem as Head of Mitiga Detention Facility and Director of Judicial Police Operations and Security

The final report (A/HRC/52/83) submitted on March 20, 2023, by the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya under the UN Human Rights Council identified "Colonel Osama Njeim" as head of an official department within the Mitiga detention facility complex and as a member of the Rada militia. According to the report, he also served as Director of the Operations and Security Department of the Judicial Police pursuant to instructions from then-Minister of Justice Mohamed Lamloum. The Fact-Finding Mission wrote that it gathered cogent evidence that families of detainees at Mitiga and al Jadida prisons were forced to purchase all necessary supplies for their detained family members from a private shop inside al Jadida prison, which was reportedly owned by Colonel Njeim. The Fact-Finding Mission stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that public state funds were misappropriated and that illicit financial gain incentivized arbitrary detention as an instrument of repression at the detention facilities within the Mitiga airport complex.

According to the report, the Mitiga airport complex and the detention facilities within it are under the control of the Rada militia, which was formally incorporated into the "Special Deterrence Apparatus for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism" by a 2018 decree of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord (GNA). The Fact-Finding Mission recorded that detainees were subjected to systematic torture, particularly at the detention facilities within the Mitiga airport complex. One detainee held there for more than three years testified to the mission that detainees underwent an "intake process" in "a room akin to a psychiatric asylum, where beatings were mandatory and blood flowed." The Fact-Finding Mission noted that this detainee was never charged with any crime. The mission stated that since its mandate began, it conducted more than 134 interviews concerning more than 41 detention facilities across Libya with current and former detainees, family members, and insider witnesses. According to the report, the total number of prisoners reported by the Libyan government stood at 18,523.

State Department Religious Freedom Report Documented Libyan Authorities Arresting Christian Converts and Circulating Coerced 'Confession' Videos

According to the U.S. Department of State, the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in Tripoli—which falls under the Presidential Council but is aligned with Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba—arrested multiple individuals on grounds such as Christian proselytism and conversion from Islam to Christianity. The Department recorded that between March and April 2023, the ISA arrested at least eight people in operations targeting Libyans suspected of converting from Islam to Christianity and foreigners accused of Christian proselytizing, subsequently posting "confession" videos online that human rights groups stated were extracted under duress. According to the U.S. Department of State, detainees in the videos, with their faces blurred, recounted the circumstances of their conversion and identified other Christian groups or individuals with whom they had interacted. According to the Department, Libya's religious authority, the Dar al-Ifta, issued a statement calling on security and judicial authorities to impose "deterrent penalties" on those responsible for conversions, asserting that "conversion to Christianity is clear apostasy." The Department recorded that some detainees remained in custody through the end of the year. Citing several Christian nongovernmental organizations, the Department noted that Muslims who converted to other religions faced intense pressure to return to Islam, while converts and atheists endured threats of violence, job terminations, and hostility from family and community members.

The U.S. Department of State noted in the same report that the leadership of the Special Deterrence Forces (Rada) militia, which reports to the Presidential Council, adheres to a strict Madkhali Salafi interpretation of Islam and enforces its interpretation of Islamic law in parts of the capital. According to the Department, out of Libya's population of approximately 7.3 million, Christians number only about 36,000, the vast majority being migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and workers from the Philippines. The Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli estimated its congregation at 2,500 to 2,700 people. Citing several international human rights organizations, the Department recorded that Christians in migrant and refugee detention facilities operated by militias reported being at higher risk of physical assault, including sexual assault, than other migrants.

The U.S. Department of State Recorded That Libyan Security Agencies Arbitrarily Detained Activists and Journalists on the Pretext of 'Protecting Libyan Values'

In the "2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Libya," the U.S. Department of State recorded that the Internal Security Agencies—quasi-independent state security bodies based respectively in Tripoli and Benghazi—often arbitrarily arrested and detained numerous activists, journalists, and bloggers with impunity on the pretext of "protecting Libyan values." According to the Department, this crackdown further squeezed an already constricted civic space. The Department recorded that women active in civil society or running as candidates in municipal council elections faced severe harassment and threats, including online. The Department also recorded that in February of the same year, at least 10 men were killed in Tripoli's Abu Salim district amid an internal power struggle within the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA). In the "2023 Report on International Religious Freedom," the U.S. Department of State noted that the General Authority of Endowments and Islamic Affairs under the GNU formed a body called the "Guardians of Virtue" in May 2023 ostensibly to defend Islamic values, which some observers likened to a "secret police" force. According to the Department, the same entity even issued an order in September banning Sufi celebrations of the Prophet's birthday, which incorporate dancing, drumming, and chanting. The U.S. Department of State recorded that in December 2023, the Libyan Internal Security Agency arrested 10 teenagers and young men on charges of atheism and insulting Islam, once again posting videos in which they "confessed" to having embraced atheist ideas.

The U.S. Department of State Recorded That Impunity Among Libyan Security Forces Remains a Serious Problem

In the "2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Libya," the U.S. Department of State recorded that although the 2011 Constitutional Declaration and post-revolution legislation prohibit torture, credible reports indicated that government officials and nonstate armed groups engaged in torture. According to the Department, militias controlling detention centers routinely tortured and abused detainees, carrying out arbitrary killings, rape, beatings, electric shocks, burns, forced labor, and denial of food and water, often for the purpose of extorting money from detainees' families. The U.S. Department of State recorded that impunity among security forces remained a serious problem, and the government took only limited steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses.

According to the U.S. Department of State, the Libyan Prosecutor General's Office disclosed on Facebook in August 2024 that it had dismantled a human trafficking ring operating in the southwest and arrested its members, with investigations identifying 1,300 migrant victims of torture, unlawful detention, and extortion. Citing an April 2024 report submitted by the UN Secretary-General to the UN Security Council, the U.S. Department of State recorded that conditions in official and unofficial migrant detention facilities worsened over the previous year due to restricted humanitarian access and an increased detainee population. The Department noted that international organizations extensively documented cases of violence targeting men and boys as well as women and girls, with rape frequently employed as a form of torture.

According to the U.S. Department of State's religious freedom report, a court in Misrata, Libya, sentenced 37 individuals in May 2023 convicted in connection with the 2015 beheadings of 21 foreign Coptic Christians in Sirte, sentencing 23 of them to death and 14 to prison terms.

Sources (KST)

• U.S. Department of State Press Statement, "Designation of Libyan Judicial Police Official for Involvement in Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment" (October 30, 2026): https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/10/designation-of-libyan-judicial-police-official-for-involvement-in-torture-and-cruel-inhumane-and-degrading-treatment
• U.S. Department of State, "2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Libya": https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/libya/
• U.S. Department of State, "2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Libya": https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/libya/
• U.S. Department of State, "2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Libya": https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/libya/
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio's X post: https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2116203813195432404
• U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor X post: https://x.com/StateDRL/status/2116218921544257926
• U.S. Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs X post: https://x.com/StateDept_NEA/status/2116194688122106343
• UN Human Rights Council Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya Final Report (A/HRC/52/83, March 20, 2023): https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=A/HRC/52/83&l=en&t=pdf