On February 4, 2021, roughly 70 miles north of Libya, a reconnaissance plane with a camera on its underside circled a raft that was carrying a hundred desperate migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. The surveillance footage from the airplane’s camera was transmitted live to an office in Warsaw, Poland, at the headquarters of Frontex, the European Union’s border patrol agency.
Two hours later, a Libyan Coast Guard cutter caught up with the migrants and ordered them to stop, even though they were well outside of Libyan waters. The armed officers took the migrants on board, beat them mercilessly, and carried them back to Libya’s gulag of detention centers. Two months later, one of the passengers, the 28-year-old Bissau Guinean and father of three Aliou Candé, was shot and killed in Libya’s most notorious detention center, Al Mabani.
Though illegal under international law, the Libyan capture of migrants on the Mediterranean Sea has become commonplace in recent years as the EU has outsourced its effort to stop refugees from crossing its borders. Of course, Europe is not alone in this effort. Australia detains undocumented migrants in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Under the Obama administration, the American government paid the Mexican government to detain undocumented people trying to enter the US. The Trump administration has since gone a big step further: shipping hundreds of undocumented people from US soil to a notoriously brutal mega-prison in El Salvador.
Candé’s story unfolds over the first three episodes of the new season of The Outlaw Ocean Podcast, an eight-part documentary series that brings together years of reporting at sea. The first episode delves into the circumstances around Candé’s death. The second episode uncovers the EU’s complicity in the migrant crisis. The third episode provides a chilling firsthand account of the violence faced in Tripoli by the journalists reporting on Candé’s death. Season 1 of the Outlaw Ocean Podcast won a variety of awards in 2024, including the “Dan Rather Award for News and Guts” and a “Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights”. Season 2 launched on June 4, 2025 in collaboration with CBC Podcasts, with one episode per week.
For over a decade, the EU has supplied the coast guard cutters, supplies for detention centers, aerial intelligence and vehicles that the Libyans use to capture migrants crossing the Mediterranean hoping for a better life. Efficient and brutal, the at-sea capture and internment of these migrants in prisons in and around Tripoli is what European Union officials hail as part of a successful partnership with Libya in their “humanitarian rescue” efforts across the Mediterranean. But the true intent of this joint campaign, according to many human rights advocates, legal experts and members of the European Parliament, is less to save migrants from trafficking or drowning than to stop them from reaching European shores.
An MSF crewmember watches a Libyan Coast Guard boat cut across the bow of a rescue ship (Ed Ou / Outlaw Ocean Project)
Though the Libyan Coast Guard routinely opens fire on migrant rafts, has been tied by the U.N. to human trafficking and murder and is now run by militias, it continues to draw strong E.U. support. Since at least 2017, the E.U., led by Italy, has trained and equipped the Libyan Coast Guard to serve as a proxy maritime force, whose central purpose is to stop migrants from reaching European shores.
As part of a broader investigation, a reporter for The Outlaw Ocean joined a five-week stint on a Doctors Without Borders ship conducting at-sea search-and-rescue work on the Mediterranean looking to save the lives of migrants crossing the sea from Africa to Europe. The work is a life-or-death race. While the humanitarian ship tries to rescue migrants and take them to safety in Europe, the far faster, bigger and more aggressive Libyan Coast Guard ships try to get to them first so they can instead arrest them and return them to prisons in Libya. Europe has long denied playing an active role in this effort but the reporters filmed drones operated by Frontex, Europe’s border agency, that are used by Europe to alert the Libyans to the exact location of migrant rafts.
“[Frontex] has never engaged in any direct cooperation with Libyan authorities.” the Frontex press office said in a statement, in response to requests for comment on the investigation. But a mounting body of evidence collected by European journalists and nongovernmental organizations suggested Frontex’s involvement with the Libyan authorities was neither accidental nor limited. In 2020, for instance, Lighthouse Reports, a Dutch nonprofit journalism organization, documented 20 instances in which Frontex aircraft were in the vicinity of migrant boats later captured by the Libyan Coast Guard. In a dozen of those cases, Lighthouse determined, Frontex was the first to identify the boats, meaning that under international law, it was obliged to notify not just the Libyan Coast Guard, but the nearest vessel — government or commercial — so that a rescue might be promptly undertaken.
Aside from the EU role in helping Libyan capture migrants at sea, the United Nations as well as humanitarian and human rights groups have roundly criticized European authorities for its role in creating and subsidizing a gulag of brutal migrant prisons in Libya. The EU has provided Libya with coast guard cutters, SUVs, and buses for moving captured migrants to prison.
For the E.U., the challenge of how best to handle desperate migrants fleeing hardships in their native countries will only grow in coming years. Climate change is expected to displace 150 million people across the globe in the next 50 years. Rising seas, desertification, famine promises to drive desperate people to global north countries like the US and those in Europe, testing the moral character and political imagination of these wealthier nations.
These factors were especially palpable for Aliou Candé, who grew up on a farm near the remote village of Sintchan Demba Gaira, Guinea-Bissau, a place without many of the basics of plumbing or electricity. Candé had a reputation as a dogged worker, who avoided trouble of any kind.
“People respected him,” his brother Jacaria said.
But the 28-year-old man, Aliou Candé, would become a climate migrant due to the harsh conditions in Guinea-Bissau. Droughts and floods had become more common, leading to crop failures and hunger for his family. Believing that the only way to improve their conditions was to go to Europe, Candé set out on a journey in the late summer of 2019 with just six hundred Euros in his pocket.
His initial attempts to reach Spain from Morocco proved unsuccessful due to the high costs involved. Eventually, he made his way to Libya, where he hoped to find a cheaper way to reach Italy. However, his journey took a tragic turn when he and a group of migrants were detained in a Libyan prison known as Al Mabani.
Life in the prison was brutal, with overcrowded cells, beatings, and inhumane treatment. Candé, like many others, found himself stuck in a cycle of despair, hoping for his family to send ransom money for his release. Sadly, on April 8, 2021, he was shot to death by guards during a confrontation in the prison.
Following Candé’s death, a team of reporters embarked on an investigation into the conditions at Al Mabani. Their efforts to shed light on the situation were met with resistance, and they themselves were detained and subjected to violence by Libyan authorities.
Despite the challenges they faced, the team was eventually released, but the ordeal highlighted the dangers faced by migrants and journalists in Libya. The closure of Al Mabani in January 2022 marked the end of a dark chapter, but it also raised questions about the accountability of Libya’s detention system.
Furthermore, the European Union’s role in supporting Libya’s migration control apparatus came under scrutiny. While officials claimed to be promoting human rights, the decision to provide more vessels to the Libyan Coast Guard raised concerns about the safety and well-being of migrants.
As the debate continues, the tragic story of Aliou Candé serves as a stark reminder of the risks faced by those seeking a better life in Europe, and the need for greater accountability and protection for migrants in Libya and beyond.
The Ongoing Mediterranean Migrant Crisis: A Call for Continued Support
Despite the numerous challenges and complexities surrounding the Mediterranean migrant crisis, one thing remains clear: the need for ongoing support and assistance for those who are risking their lives in search of a better future. As Marcella Boehler, global publishing editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, aptly puts it, “We think it’s still preferable to continue to support this than to leave them to their own devices.”
As of 2024, the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean shows no signs of abating. Tragically, at least two thousand migrants lost their lives while attempting this perilous journey, according to the UN. Additionally, the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted and detained an additional twenty thousand migrants, who were then held in overcrowded prisons like Al Mabani in and around Tripoli. The situation is dire, and urgent action is needed to address the root causes of this crisis.
The international community, including the EU and the US, has a crucial role to play in providing support and assistance to those affected by the Mediterranean migrant crisis. In February of this year, Libyan authorities conducted a training exercise with EU border officials, highlighting the need for cooperation and collaboration in addressing this complex issue.
Furthermore, the Trump administration has shown interest in the Mediterranean migrant crisis, floating the idea of sending undocumented migrants from the US to Libya. Discussions have also taken place regarding the potential relocation of up to a million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya. While the status of these plans remains uncertain, it underscores the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to addressing the challenges posed by irregular migration.
It is imperative that we continue to support and assist those who are most vulnerable in the Mediterranean migrant crisis. By working together and prioritizing the well-being of migrants, we can ensure a safer and more secure future for all. As we navigate the complexities of this crisis, let us remember the words of Marcella Boehler: “We think it’s still preferable to continue to support this than to leave them to their own devices.”
Marcella Boehler is global publishing editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington D.C. that produces investigative stories about human rights, environment and labor concerns on the two thirds of the planet covered by water. Season Two of The Outlaw Ocean Project’s podcast series may be found here.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.