More: Libya serves as a hub for migrants trying to get to Europe, and the country has several detention facilities for refugees and migrants. In a 2021 report, Amnesty International said those facilities made up a "horrific" "hellscape" with evidence of "sexual violence against men, women and children."

Meanwhile, the Global Detention Project said migrants held in Libya may be the subject of "physical mistreatment and torture," as well as forced labor and slavery.

The State Department pointed to "harsh and life-threatening" conditions in the detention centers in the country in its annual report last year. It found that migrants had "no access to immigration courts or due process."

A Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Frederic Wehrey, told The Times: "I have been in those migrant prisons and it's no place for migrants."

He added: "It's just a horrific place to dump any vulnerable person."