Eastern Libyan government releases Gaza convoy activists after month of imprisonment
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Alex MacDonald
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Fri, 06/26/2026 - 12:25
Members of the Global Sumud Convoy were allowed to leave country after Khalifa Haftar's forces stopped them near Sirte
Members of the 'Sumud 2' land convoy prepare to leave for the Gaza Strip, from the staging and coordination camp in the Joud Daem, about 30km west of Tripoli on 15 May (AFP/Mahmud Turkia)
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Authorities allied with Khalifa Haftar's administration in Libya have released 10 activists who were detained in the Libyan desert en route to Gaza in late May after a month in captivity.
The detainees - including activists from Spain, Poland, the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Tunisia and Italy - were held by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), loyal to Haftar, after being arrested as part of the Global Sumud Convoy.
The convoy had been stopped near the city of Sirte while attempting to travel east to reach Gaza. While the majority of its members were then deported, 10 activists were detained.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministry said the convoy members would be deported from Libya under a ruling issued by a chamber of the Benghazi Court of Appeal.
The Global Sumud Flotilla Instagram account released footage of six activists arriving in Istanbul on Wednesday and greeting friends at the airport.
The convoy aimed to travel across land to deliver aid and other services to the inhabitants of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Following the group's detention, the eastern Libyan government’s foreign ministry announced that non-Libyans and non-Egyptians would no longer be permitted to travel onwards to Egypt.
Hunger strike
LAAF has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and war crimes by monitoring groups.
Amnesty International said the coalition of armed forces and its allied armed groups in Libya have severely restricted the rights to freedom of expression and association while targeting actual or suspected critics and opponents of Haftar.
"Libyans, as well as refugees and migrants, detained by LAAF, which exercises government-like functions in areas under its control, risk torture and other ill-treatment, as well as prolonged detention amid flagrant due process violations," said Sara Hashash, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
From 1 June and at least until 4 June, the detainees went on hunger strike to protest their detention and denial of access to their lawyers and families.
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According to Amnesty International, the activists had faced charges of "assembly without authorisation" and potentially faced up to six months in prison and/or a fine.
Libya has been largely divided since the Nato-backed overthrow of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Eastern Libya is controlled by Haftar and his allies, and is backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, while a UN-backed government in Tripoli governs the west of the country, backed by Turkey.
Ambulances and aid trucks
Launched by North African activists and later joined by international participants, the Gaza-bound convoy included seven ambulances, 20 mobile homes and 10 aid trucks, as well as medical professionals, engineers, educators and legal observers.
How a Gaza-bound aid convoy unravelled attempting to enter Haftar-controlled eastern Libya
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They were targeted by the LAAF after they entered the 5+5 security zone near the city of Sirte, a contested area established under the country’s October 2020 ceasefire agreement, hoping to negotiate safe passage onwards to Gaza.
However, while many activists involved in the Global Sumud Convoy - which is associated with similar flotillas that have attempted to reach Gaza by sea - praised the commitment of the organisers and their drive to break the siege of Gaza, others said the trip was flawed from the start.
Felipe, a 29-year-old Chilean-Palestinian activist and veteran of previous sea-based flotillas, said the convoy itself bore some responsibility for the outcome.
He told MEE that during a two-week stay in Tripoli, it became increasingly clear there had been little planning for the possibility of detentions or for a confrontation with the LAAF.
"If we were not able to go through east Libya, we should not have kept pressuring them because we were going to shift the narrative from Israel to Libya," he said.
"We were waiting in the desert for nine days doing nothing."
Inside Libya
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