In a shocking incident, a Libyan prisoner in Italy sewed his mouth shut and went on an open-ended hunger and thirst strike to protest the conditions of his detention for 11 years.

Libyan prisoner in Italy

Italian and Libyan reports indicated that the incident caused a widespread shock in human rights circles and brought back into focus the case of five Libyan prisoners who have been detained for more than a decade, amid renewed demands to activate the prisoner exchange agreement between Libya and Italy, after photos of the Libyan prisoner in Italy, Muhannad Nouri Khashiba, were circulated, in which he announced that he had gone on a hunger strike, and that he had sewn his mouth shut in protest against his detention conditions.

In a widely circulated video, the Libyan prisoner in Italy said he was placed in solitary confinement following an altercation with security personnel inside the prison, after he threatened to commit suicide due to extreme despair following many years of detention.

The prisoner showed signs of exhaustion and psychological breakdown, as he admitted that what he did was religiously wrong, but he had reached his breaking point after spending about 11 years behind bars.

He indicated that he would end his hunger strike as soon as his deportation to Libya to serve the remainder of his sentence was announced, or if the Italian authorities declared it impossible to do so.

A tragic strike brings the issue of Libyan prisoners back to the forefront.

Returning to the reason for his detention, the Libyan prisoner is one of five Libyan footballers convicted in Italy on charges related to human trafficking and illegal immigration, with an Italian court sentencing them to 30 years in prison in December 2015.

Domestically, the Libyan Organization for Human Rights expressed its shock at the incident, describing what happened in a statement as a tragic scene reflecting the level of despair and psychological collapse within the prisons.

The organization considered what happened to be a cry for help that requires urgent action, warning of the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of their continued detention for long periods under what it described as harsh sentences.