A Libyan prison boss accused of overseeing murder, rape, and torture at a notorious detention centre appeared at the International Criminal Court Wednesday to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, 47, sat impassively dressed in a dark blue jacket and light blue shirt, confirming his name and date of birth before the three-woman judging panel.He stands accused of six counts of war crimes and six crimes against humanity, including torture, murder, rape, sexual violence, and persecution between February 2015 and early 2020 at the notorious Mitiga prison near Tripoli.The ICC, which tries individuals for the world’s worst crimes, believes there are “reasonable grounds” to believe he personally killed one detainee at the prison, which he ran with an iron fist.A “significant number” of people died during El Hishri’s time there, either from torture, being left outside in winter, untreated injuries, or starvation, the court said.ICC judges believe at least five detainees, including a 15-year-old boy, were raped by guards or other prisoners. Women prisoners were also subjected to sexual abuse, the court alleged.The court alleges El Hishri took part in “personally torturing, mistreating, sexually abusing and killing detainees” and also “exercised his authority over all Mitiga prison staff and detainees.”The suspect “imposed prison conditions aimed at increasing the detainees’ suffering,” alleged the court, which said “several thousand” were held there.Detainees were tortured on arrival and at regular times during their stay.The court said they were beaten with plastic pipes, batons, electrical cables, as well as fists. Detainees were shot, placed in stress positions, and confined in small metal boxes.”Extensive beatings” were commonplace at the prison, said the court, “sometimes for the entertainment and amusement of guards.”- ‘Horrific abuses’ -Presiding judge Iulia Motoc said the court had received an email earlier Wednesday from El Hishri’s defence team applying for interim release.When invited to speak, El Hishri said he had no observations — “just requesting my release”.Motoc said the next phase of proceedings, a “confirmation of charges” hearing, would take place on 19 May, 2026.El Hishri is the first suspect to appear at the ICC as part of its investigation into Libya which began in 2011.The oil-rich country is still grappling with the aftermath of the armed conflict and political chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi.It remains divided between a United Nations-recognised government in the west and its eastern rival, backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the case would “bring into the light the horrific abuses taking place behind the locked doors of Libya’s prisons.”The ICC is also seeking Osama Almasri Najim, head of Libya’s judicial police, on charges relating to alleged crimes at the prison.Najim was arrested in Italy but then released and returned to Libya, sparking a major political row in Italy and consternation in The Hague, where the ICC is based.

A Doctors Without Borders official has pleaded for countries to open their doors to tens of thousands of Gazans in dire need of medical evacuation, warning that hundreds have already died waiting.”The need is really huge,” said Hani Isleem, who coordinates medical evacuations from Gaza for the charity, known by its French acronym MSF.The numbers taken in by countries so far remains “just a drop in the ocean”, Isleem told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.The World Health Organization estimates that more than 8,000 patients have been evacuated out of Gaza since the war erupted following Hamas’s attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023.It says more than 16,500 patients still need treatment outside of the Palestinian territory.Speaking at the MSF headquarters in Geneva after accompanying seriously ill and injured Gaza children to Switzerland for treatment, Isleem said that number was based only on patients registered for medical evacuation and the true figure was higher.”Our estimate is that it is three to four times that number,” he said.To date, over 30 countries have taken patients, but only a handful, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have accepted large numbers.In Europe, Italy has taken over 200 patients, compared to France, which by the end of October had taken 27, and Germany none.- Evacuation pace slowing -Switzerland in November took in 20 Gaza children who arrived in two batches.The 13 children aged two months to 16 years whom Isleem accompanied last week included four babies with severe congenital heart disease, as well as cancer patients and children requiring complex orthopaedic surgery.Without the evacuation, some of those children would not have made it, he said, pointing out that the babies basically went straight to surgery after their arrival in Switzerland to avoid “irreversible damage”.Isleem lamented that as conditions in Gaza become more desperate, the pace of medical evacuations has slowed.Initially, some 1,500 patients left each month on average, but after Israel in May 2024 closed the Rafah crossing into Egypt, the monthly average has dropped to around 70.A US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 has not seemed to speed up the process.Nor, surprisingly, has a dramatic drop in Israeli evacuation refusals.Isleem pointed out that the Israeli authorities’ denial rate had plunged from an average of around 90 percent to just five percent in recent months, adding that this was still too high.They should not “block any patients from leaving Gaza to access treatment”, he said.- Stop the ‘shopping list’ -Despite these shifts, there has been no big uptick in evacuations, with 148 carried out in October and 71 last month, with only around 30 expected to take place in December, Isleem said.The problem, he said, was the long and often “politicised” process for nations to accept Gaza’s medical evacuees.”Countries are taking a long time to decide or allocate the budget for these patients, but (they cannot) wait for this discussion to happen.”More than 900 people have died while waiting for evacuations from Gaza since October 2023 — a figure Isleem said was an underestimate.Another problem, Isleem warned, was that “99.9 percent of countries are asking for children”. “They are ignoring completely the adults (who also) need support and lifesaving aid,” he said, pointing out that three quarters of those waiting for medical evacuations were over 18. Governments also impose other criteria, including refusing patients with accompanying family members, and especially with any male siblings over 18.Isleem urged countries to “stop this selection shopping list”, and to “focus only on the needs and saving people’s lives”.