The Maghrebi Soumoud Convoy announced the arrest of several participants in the “Soumoud Convoy 2” on Sunday evening while crossing the 5+5 checkpoint in the city of Sirte, located in areas controlled by forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, confirming that contact with the detainees has been lost so far.
In a statement published on its official page, the convoy’s media outlet said the arrests involved ten participants from the first section of the convoy as it headed toward eastern Libya as part of its mission to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
It added that the detainees hold the nationalities of Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Tunisia, and the United States, noting that they were doctors traveling in several ambulances participating in the convoy.
Following the incident, the convoy announced that the convoy had halted around 60 kilometers west of the Sirte checkpoint to ensure the safety of participants until the fate of the detainees becomes clear and ongoing communications are completed.
In the same context, Italian news agency Nova reported that Haftar’s forces transferred the two Italian nationals among the ten activists of various nationalities arrested in Sirte to Benghazi.
The agency added that the detainees would be handled in Benghazi as “potential illegal migrants,” explaining that they were arrested and transferred while attempting to negotiate the convoy’s passage into eastern Libya and then Egypt on its way to the besieged enclave.
Nova confirmed that the Italian Foreign Ministry has begun following the case and opened investigations in coordination with the relevant authorities, while “Libyan security authorities have not issued any clarification regarding the reasons for the arrests or the legal status of the detainees.”
