Are EU authorities collaborating with a brutal eastern Libyan militia to stop migrants from reaching European shores? A new media investigation suggests this is the case, alleging instances where migrant boats bound for Europe may have been turned over by either the EU's border agency Frontex, or the Maltese authorities to Libyan boats operating on behalf of a militia.

The investigation conducted by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, along with Dutch investigative journalism non-profit organization Lighthouse Reports, French news outlet Le Monde, Al Jazeera, Malta Today and the Syrian publication Siraj, spent months investigating migrants' allegations in the Mediterranean.

They suggest that a militia known as the Tareq Bin Zayed (TBZ) brigade, under the command of Saddam Haftar -- the son of the Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, who holds sway in some parts of southern and eastern Libya, commits torture and rape against migrants.

According to Amnesty International, some of Saddam Haftar's men have even been involved in forceable disappearances or even executions of those they detain. They are being supported by the Russian Wagner mercenary group, according to Der Spiegel, which cites a confidential EU report.

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Connections to Russia?

Since summer 2022, the routes from Northern Africa to Europe via the Mediterranean have shifted. More and more smuggler boats have been setting off from Eastern Libya, areas ruled by Khalifa Haftar, a strongman with allegedly close connections to the Russian government.

According to the investigation, based on testimonies by seven migrants who said they were forcibly returned to Libya by TBZ, there's evidence of at least three cases in which the EU border agency Frontex or Maltese authorities discovered boats carrying migrants that were later returned by Haftar's men to Libya from Malta's search-and-rescue (SAR) zone.

Torture and death

According to one of the investigating media outlets, Al Jazeera, TBZ began intercepting and returning migrants from European waters in May. Overall, hundreds of migrants have been returned since then, according to the investigation.

The alleged victims Al Jazeera interviewed reported that TBZ militiamen tortured, beat and shot at them. One even said they witnessed a killing. Others said TBZ forced them to pay a ransom or made them work for their freedom, Al Jazeera reported.

"[TBZ militiamen] confiscated our passports and mobile phones and transferred us to a prison within the port, a large hangar about 50 meters long, already crowded with about 600 people," a 23-year-old Syrian who was intercepted and returned to Libya told Al Jazeera.

While the EU officially distances itself from TBZ, the investigation suggests that Frontex is well aware of what the militia is and how it operates.

"What the militia is doing is more of a kidnapping than a rescue," German international law expert Nora Markard is quoted saying in the article. "You only have to imagine pirates announcing that they will deal with a distress case."

Mayday relays

The investigation found that EU member state Malta appears to be playing a direct role in helping TBZ spot migrant boats.

During one incident in August, an audio recording strongly suggests that a Maltese air force pilot relayed the coordinates of a boat in distress to the TBZ, claims Al Jazeera.

According to Der Spiegel, Maltese authorities openly admit to cooperating with General Haftar. One unnamed high-ranking official in the Maltese capital Valletta told the German news magazine they provide them with surveillance data.

Since then, Maltese officials apparently have begun to view TBZ as a kind of official coast guard operating from eastern Libya, according to Der Spiegel.

The investigation also incriminates EU border agency Frontex, which they say dispatched a so-called mayday relay, basically a distress call, to all vessels in the area -- allegedly because the migrant boat in question was dangerously overcrowded. This was contrary to usual routines, according to Der Spiegel. Usually, Frontex is required to inform just the rescue coordination centers in Italy, Malta and western Libya.

Frontex also regularly sends coordinates of migrant boats to western Libyan authorities, a practice that's also highly controversial. According to the investigation, however, the Libyan rescue coordination centers not only informs its own coast guard, it also informs the TBZ in eastern Libya -- despite the two factions struggling for hegemony in the war-torn country.

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Crimes against humanity

Migrants intercepted and returned to Libya are usually placed in detention centers run by the government, at least in western Libya. The UN Migration Agency IOM in Libya regularly posts on the numbers intercepted by various Libyan authorities. Since the beginning of the year, they say over 15,000 migrants have been intercepted and returned to Libya.

According to the UN and many NGOs, the conditions at these facilities are extremely poor. Over the years, numerous reports have outlined severe hygiene shortcomings and widespread malnourishment.

In addition to official facilities, some Libyan detention centers are also run by smuggling gangs and other criminal organizations. The situation at these facilities is reportedly far worse than at the official facilities, with sexual assault, slavery, extortion, torture and murder recorded across the board.

In April, the UN Human Rights Council declared there are "reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya since 2016."

Read more: Videos of migrants being tortured in Libya published on social media