Kidnapped Migrants on Libya Route Threatened with Kidney Removal

Sat Jun 13 2026 11:48:58 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Over 300 Iraqi Kurdistan migrants bound for the UK were kidnapped, tortured in Libya and threatened with organ removal over a ransom dispute.

During the summer of 2025, hundreds of young men from Iraqi Kurdistan were lured into Libya by a smuggling gang and held in a guarded compound. The militia demanded a $5,000 ransom from each family, threatening to remove their kidneys if payment was delayed. Images and testimonies reveal brutal torture, overcrowded cells and the threat of organ removal. Several hostages have been released after their families paid the ransom, though a death may have resulted from a forced operation. The incident underscores the dangerous role of Middle Eastern smuggling networks and increased migration pressure into Europe.

More than three‑hundred young men traveling to the United Kingdom from Iraqi Kurdistan were seized in Libya, where they were held in a guarded compound, tortured and threatened with removal of kidney organs.

All the victims had been organised by smugglers and transported across the Libyan desert to the Mediterranean coast. A militia demanded £3,700 (five thousand dollars) from each family, warning that the reward would be taken ‘with a kidney’ if payment was not made quickly.

Investigations by the BBC revealed that the captives were kept in cramped cells that could hold up to 180 people. Survivors described being in a small space without sunlight for months, with a single toilet shared by everyone and food limited to one slice of bread a day—unless extra money was paid.

One former captive recounted being tortured by having his leg burned, while a 16‑year‑old remembered a cell with no sun for six months and sleeping in a sitting position with everyone else. A photo of a scar on a survivor’s leg matched the incision typical of a kidney operation, although no official confirmation has yet been issued.

Noah Aaron, the smuggler who had organised the journey, is currently serving a ten‑year prison sentence in France for separate money‑laundering and smuggling charges.

Many of the hostages have since been released; some families paid the ransom immediately. However, Kurdish authorities still suspect that others may have paid with their internal organs. A senior official in the Kurdistan Regional Government urges those who survived to warn others against undertaking similar routes to Europe.

These reports come in the wake of a recent BBC investigation that spotlighted another smuggler’s involvement in the same network, illustrating the broader dangers of migration across Libya’s chaotic territory.