EU imposes sanctions for human rights abuses in Libya

The European Union Foreign Affairs' Council Monday decided to impose sanctions on two persons responsible for human rights abuses in Libya and three entities involved in violating the UN arms embargo in place for Libya. They will be added to the EU's list of persons and entities subject to sanctions to the Libyan conflict, said the Council in a statement after its meeting in Brussels. The sanctions imposed comprise a travel ban and an asset freeze for natural persons, and an asset freeze for entities. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed. The two persons are, Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al Werfalli who serves as a commander of the Benghazi-based al-Saiqa Brigade, and Moussa Diab responsible for serious human rights abuses including human trafficking and the kidnapping, and killing of migrants and refugees. The three entities include Sigma Airlines a commercial cargo air company based in, Kazakhstan which operates aircrafts found to have violated the arms embargo in Libya. The other tow are Avrasya Shipping based in Turkey a maritime company which operates a vessel called Cirkin found to have violated the arms embargo in Libya , and Med Wave Shipping a maritime company based in Jordan which operates a vessel called Bana found to have violated the arms embargo in Libya, according to the Official Journal of the EU . With these new designations, the EU now has travel bans on 17 listed persons and has frozen the assets of 21 persons and 19 entities in Libya. The EU's sanctions complement and reinforce the sanctions adopted by the UN, which include an arms embargo and individual measures, including for human rights abuses. The UN has imposed a travel ban on 28 persons and an asset freeze on 23 persons.