Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

A Libyan court has jailed 12 officials in connection with the collapse of a series of dams in Derna last year that killed thousands of the city's residents, the Attorney General said on Sunday.

The officials, who were responsible for managing the country's dams, were sentenced to between 9 and 27 years in prison by the Court of Appeal in Derna. Four officials were acquitted, according to Reuters.

Derna, a coastal city with a population of 125,000, was devastated last September by massive floods caused by Storm Daniel.

Thousands were killed and thousands more were missing as a result of the floods that burst dams, swept away buildings and destroyed entire neighbourhoods.

The Attorney General in Tripoli said three of the defendants were ordered to "return money obtained from illicit gains", according to a statement, which did not give the names or positions of those on trial.

"The convicted officials have been charged with negligence, premeditated murder and waste of public money," a judicial source in Derna told Reuters by phone, adding that they had the right to appeal against the verdicts.

A report in January by the World Bank, United Nations and European Union said deadly flash flooding in Derna constituted a climate and environmental catastrophe that required $1.8 billion to fund reconstruction and recovery.

The report said the dams' collapse was partly due to their design, based on outdated hydrological information, and partly a result of poor maintenance and governance problems during more than a decade of conflict in Libya.



Pope Speaks Against Forced Mass Displacement of Gaza Civilians

Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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Pope Speaks Against Forced Mass Displacement of Gaza Civilians

Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Pope Leo, whose role in advocating for peace in Gaza has become notably stark since Israel struck the territory's only Catholic church last week, told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday that he opposed any forced displacement of Palestinians.

The Vatican said Abbas, who leads the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, had phoned the pope on Monday, three days after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called and expressed regret over the strike on Gaza's Holy Family church.

Israel has said the strike, which killed three people and wounded the church's parish priest, was a mistake, Reuters reported.

The small church in Gaza has been a focus of papal advocacy for peace throughout the war in the territory. Pope Leo's predecessor Pope Francis spoke to the parish nightly.

In Monday's conversation with Abbas, Leo condemned the "indiscriminate use of force" and any "forced mass displacement" of people in the Gaza Strip, the Vatican said.

Israel has said it wants Gazans to move to a special humanitarian zone in Gaza or leave the territory voluntarily. All mainstream Palestinian groups and neighbouring Arab states have rejected any plan that would displace them.

In emotional remarks on Sunday after his weekly Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed at the church in Gaza and called for an end to the "barbarity of war".