...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
-backed authorities accused of "extreme abuse" against captured
The 34-year-old Nigerian had paid 1,100 euros ($1,100) for a place on an overcrowded vessel from the Libyan port of Zawiya, heading for Italian shores via the world's deadliest migration route.
"It was night when I got on the boat, it was already dark. I didn't know (where we were going)," he said, giving only his first name. "I just wanted to go to Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...and have a good life."
Those hopes were dashed when a Libyan patrol boat approached.
"Oh noes!. I am apprehended!"
Godwin said he was so reluctant to avoid going back to Libya that he considered throwing himself into the sea.
But he didn't
But he was detained and dragged back to Libya, where he was only released after his family paid a 550 euro ransom.
His is far from the only case.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch claimed that some 32,450 people had been intercepted by Libyan forces last year and "hauled back to arbitrary detention and abuse" in the war-ravaged country as European countries turned a blind eye.
HRW accused the EU's border agency Frontex of using a drone to provide information that "facilitates interceptions and returns to Libya ... (despite) overwhelming evidence of torture and exploitation of
The migrant-run @RefugeesinLibya Twitter account regularly posts images of refugees allegedly killed by Libyan forces or tortured to extort money from their families.
Refugees in the country are "tortured by European taxpayers' money, dehumanised and deprived in all forms," it said in a recent tweet.
That chimes with a report in October by United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
experts, who said acts of "murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment (and) rape" against detained
None of this has stopped the European Union funding and working closely with the Libyan coasties to prevent
The accusations against Europe are not limited to financial support.
Alarm Phone, a group running a hotline for
"Alarm Phone has witnessed this non-assistance policy in action innumerable times," it said, accusing Malta of "abandoning boats at risk of capsizing" within the island's search and rescue zone.
From the start of January until August 20, almost 13,000
Some have been detained, while others have been sent home or simply allowed to leave the overcrowded detention centres.
A further 918 were either dead or missing.
Libyan authorities deny reports that
"The arrests are carried out according to the rules in place," a migration official said.
But many argue that the long years of fighting since a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime ruler Moamer Qadaffy in 2011 has left the country dealing with some instability.