Sabha municipal council denies holding slave markets

The municipal council of Sabha in the south of Libya has denied that it ever held a market for selling African immigrants as salves in the city.

The denial statement came by the municipal council as a response to the report of the International Organisation for Migration, which accused the city of holding auctions in which African illegal migrants are being sold and traded.

The council added that such allegations are baseless and are only based on witnesses from African illegal migrants who are trying to coax the IOM into giving them humanitarian asylum.

Such a report will be tackled very seriously by Sabha municipality and we will try to hold the IOM accountable in the legal and humanitarian international arenas, the statement added.

IOM said in a report last week that there are slave markets in the southern city of Libya and the illegal immigrants are taken from shelters and sold in the markets.