Italy arrests 3 accused of migrant torture in Libya

ROME – Italian officials say three men who disembarked on the tiny island of Lampedusa over the summer have been arrested at a migrant reception centre in Italy after fellow migrants recognized them as their torturers in Libya.

According to a statement Monday by Italian police, the three — two Egyptians and a Guinean — carried out organized torture at the detention centre in Zawiya, forcing men and women to call their families and beg for ransoms.

The statement said women were systematically raped and both men and women were sold to other traffickers for sex or labour.

Victims described being whipped, electrocuted and beaten, echoing years of allegations that the government-linked detention centres in Libya are rife with abuse. One witness said guards killed two migrants for trying to escape.