Unsolved case · 2015
Also known as April 2015 Libya beheadings of Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians
The short answer
On 19 April 2015, the Islamic State's Libyan branch released a video showing the beheading and shooting of around 30 Christian migrant workers, mostly Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals, held in two separate groups in eastern and southern Libya.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for this caseOn 19 April 2015, the Islamic State (IS) released a 29-minute propaganda video titled "Until There Came to Them Clear Evidence" through its Al Furqan Media Foundation. The video depicted the killing of approximately 30 Christian migrant workers who were held captive in two groups hundreds of miles apart in Libya. One group of around 12 men was held on the coast in eastern Libya by an IS affiliate called Barqa Province, while another group of around 16 men was held in the desert by a southern affiliate called Fazzan Province. The captives in the coastal group were beheaded, with their blood shown draining into the Mediterranean Sea, while the desert group was shown being shot in the head at point-blank range.
The victims were migrant workers believed to be attempting to reach Europe. According to the Ethiopian government, 30 of the dead were Ethiopian citizens, though only two were named by relatives: Eyasu Yikunoamlak and Balcha Belete, both from Kirkos, who had entered Libya through Sudan hoping to reach Italy and eventually the United Kingdom. At least seven victims were identified as Eritrean, including three asylum seekers who had been deported from Israel in 2014, according to the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants; one of these was named as former Eritrean soldier Tesfai Kidane. IS labeled the victims as followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The video followed a 25-minute segment filmed in Iraq and Syria featuring an IS cleric discussing Christian-Muslim relations and demanding that Christians convert to Islam or pay jizya, a tax historically levied on non-Muslims by Islamic caliphates. The video also showed footage of IS fighters destroying churches and Christian symbols. It came two months after IS released a separate video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in February 2015.
On 24 December 2018, Libya's Criminal Investigation Department announced the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 34 men executed in the video, located on a farm in Sirte and identified using information from interrogations of detained IS militants. The bodies were exhumed and were set to be repatriated to Ethiopia.
The killings prompted widespread condemnation. The Ethiopian government declared a three-day national mourning period, and approximately 100,000 demonstrators participated in a government-led protest in Addis Ababa's Meskel Square on 22 April, during which some protesters clashed with police. International condemnation came from the White House, French President François Hollande, Pope Francis, Libya's foreign minister, and the foreign ministries of several countries, as well as the African Union, European Union, and United Nations.
Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.
Islamic State's Libyan branch released a video depicting the shooting and beheading of approximately 30 Christian migrant workers held in two groups in eastern and southern Libya.
Ethiopia began a three-day national mourning period; around 100,000 demonstrators protested in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa.
Libya's Criminal Investigation Department announced discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 34 men executed in the video, on a farm in Sirte.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Ethiopian migrant worker from Kirkos killed in the April 2015 video; identified by relatives.[3]
Ethiopian migrant worker from Kirkos killed in the April 2015 video; identified by relatives.[3]
Former Eritrean soldier and asylum seeker deported from Israel in 2014; killed in the April 2015 video.[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Credit: Unknown authorCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenBeach near Al Mahary Hotel, Sirte, Libya · 2010s
In February 2015, the Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of 21 Christian construction workers—20 Egyptians and one Ghanaian—who had been kidnapped in Sirte, Libya. The men were killed on a beach for their Christian faith, prompting international condemnation and Egyptian airstrikes on IS targets in Libya.
Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt/ReleasedPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenNear Sirte, Libya · 2010s
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was captured by National Transitional Council (NTC) forces near Sirte on 20 October 2011 following a NATO airstrike on his convoy, and was killed shortly after his capture. Video evidence contradicted initial NTC claims that he died in crossfire, and international bodies called for an independent investigation into his death.
Credit: Pax Ahimsa GethenCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenPulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida, United States · 2016
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed 49 people and wounded 58 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, during a Latin Night event, before being fatally shot by police after a three-hour standoff.
Credit: uploader and the RNAOCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenYonge Street, North York City Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada · 2018
On April 23, 2018, a man drove a rented van into pedestrians along Yonge Street in Toronto's North York City Centre, killing 11 people and injuring 15 others before being arrested; he was later convicted on all counts and sentenced to life in prison.
Birstall, West Yorkshire, England · 2016
On 16 June 2016, British Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in Birstall, West Yorkshire, by Thomas Alexander Mair. He was convicted in November 2016 of murder and related offences, with the judge finding the killing was an act of terrorism motivated by white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology. Mair received a whole life order.
SOLVEDListenBenghazi, Cyrenaica, Libya · 1929
Between 1929 and 1934, Italian colonial authorities under Benito Mussolini killed an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 Libyans and interned nearly half the population of Cyrenaica in concentration camps as part of the suppression of Senussi resistance during the Second Italo-Senussi War.
