ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish migrant stranded in Libya en route to Europe died of a heart attack while in a detention center, an official confirmed to Rudaw on Tuesday. “The relevant authorities in the Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in Libya, east of the capital Tripoli, informed us today, 21/10/2025, of the death of migrant Hogir Aso Khidir following a heart attack inside the detention center,” Ahmed al-Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Tripoli, said. Sahad told Rudaw earlier this month that they had readied credentials for a total of 41 migrants - all from the Kurdistan Region - ahead of their repatriation from the country. “The Embassy worked to provide travel tickets for the voluntary return of migrants to Iraq in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government,” he noted on Tuesday. The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad. The Libya-Italy journey typically takes around eight hours, compared to up to 72 hours through Greece, but can cost as much as $17,000 per person, much of it paid to militias that control Libya’s coast, according to Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees (ARR).
