10 young men from Raperin held hostage in Libya; families told to pay $4,000 each
RastinewsTen young men from the towns of Haciawa and Chwarqurna, under the Kurdistan Region's Raperin Independent Administration, left home about 45 days ago intending to reach Europe and ended up in Libya instead. According to Rûdaw, the young men, aged between 18 and 25, were seized there by an armed group. A video circulated on social media showed the captives alongside a man speaking Arabic.
Families said the people who contacted them demanded $4,000 for each young man's release. One relative said the families had already paid money once before to have the group smuggled toward Europe. Citing local sources, Rûdaw reported that the man holding the group is known in Libya as "Abu Ali" and is negotiating their release with people smugglers.
33 other Kurdish youths returned from Libya earlier
A separate group of 33 Kurdish young men from the same region, also trying to reach Europe, had been held in a Libyan jail for about a month before being freed and brought back to the Kurdistan Region on September 8. Aged between 16 and 27, they had reportedly agreed to pay smugglers $19,000 each to get them to Italy.