Migrant in Libya relives brutal detention through sketches

 A guard withholds water from a barefoot migrant kneeling in front of him. An emaciated man lies on ground while a rmostat res a broiling 43 degrees Celsius. Refugees cower to ground as bullets whiz by.

se rough pencil sketches by an Eritrean refugee offer a glimpse of brutal reality of Libya’s migrant detention centers, where thousands have been locked away for months or even years. Most are re after failing to make perilous crossing to Europe through Mediterranean Sea.

artist asked to only be identified by his nickname, Aser, because he fears reprisals from militias for speaking out about what he says are “nightmare conditions” inside centers. In a country with functioning government, it is often competing militias who run detention centers and make money off migrants.

drawings are based on what Aser, 28, witnessed inside several migrant facilities in Tripoli between September 2017 and October this year. At night, he recalls, he awoke to sounds of militiamen dragging migrants from ir sleep and beating m to get ransoms from ir families, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Guards withheld food, water and medicine for same reason.

Libya’s migrant detention centers are rife with abuse, and many have gotten caught in crossfire of country’s civil war. One drawing depicts refugees in crossfire between forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter and militias allied with United Nations-supported government in Tripoli.

Libya became a major crossing point for migrants to Europe after death of longtime dictator Moammar Ghafi in 2011, but Europe w sends money for Libya to prevent migrants from reaching its shores. With increased reports of torture and abuse inside detention centers, Europe’s policy of supporting Libyan coast guard as it intercepts fleeing migrants has come under growing criticism.

Aser says that often, only drinking water available inside hangars where he was kept was a few buckets of water for hundreds of people. He and ors went weeks without seeing sunlight, and crowded centers became breeding grounds for disease. At last facility where he was held, Abu Salim, he and ar migrant, who also spoke on condition of anymity, said two Eritreans died from what y believed to be tuberculosis.

Aser's journey began more than four years ago, when he escaped forced military conscription in Ethiopia, considered among world’s most repressive governments. He me his way through Ethiopia and Sudan, and paid $6,000 to traffickers in Libya to secure a place on a boat to Europe. But vessel was intercepted by Libyan coast guard.

He ended up in Tripoli in September 2017 and was placed in first of three centers. Visiting workers from Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, provided him with pencils and paper, and he worked out of sight of guards. He sometimes hid drawings with or migrants, and took photos of some sketches before destroying m.

In late October, Aser fled to an alrey overcrowded United Nations-run facility with hundreds of or detainees. w his hope is that he can be one of few to qualify for asylum, who are put on flights via Niger and Rwanda to Europe.

In meantime, he says, his only escape is art.

“I dream that one day I can move out of Libya to develop my skill by gaining ditional education,” he said.