Eritrean National Gets 20-Year Prison Term for Smuggling Migrants in Netherlands

The Netherlands has sentenced an Eritrean national, Amanuel Walid, to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of leading a transnational migrant-smuggling network that operated through Libya, Dutch prosecutors said Friday.

Walid was convicted on a string of charges that included human smuggling, extortion, violence and money laundering. Prosecutors said members of the network detained migrants in Libya, subjected many to severe abuse in detention camps, and forced relatives in the Netherlands to pay ransoms — a pattern that gave Dutch courts jurisdiction over parts of the scheme.

The ruling represents an uncommon exercise of European criminal jurisdiction over crimes that took place largely outside the continent. Legal observers described the conviction as unprecedented: according to court authorities, it is the first time a European state has prosecuted an alleged leader of a criminal organisation that ran multiple detention facilities in Libya.

Details disclosed at the sentencing outlined a transnational operation that moved migrants through Libya en route to Europe, often detaining them in a network of camps where conditions and treatment were reported to be brutal. Relatives living in the Netherlands, the prosecutors said, were systematically extorted for ransom payments to secure the release — or silence — of those held abroad.

Prosecutors said evidence presented at trial showed coordination across borders, with money flows laundered through networks tied to the organisation and violent enforcement used to control detainees. The court imposed a 20-year sentence, reflecting the severity of the crimes and the scale of the operation.

Authorities emphasized that the case is part of a wider investigation. Prosecutors said inquiries into the broader smuggling network remain ongoing and that further legal action against other suspects is possible as cross-border evidence is developed.

The verdict highlights two persistent challenges for European and international law enforcement: the reach of criminal smuggling networks that exploit unstable transit states, and the legal and investigative hurdles of prosecuting crimes committed abroad. By targeting a suspected ringleader who allegedly coordinated detention camps and ransom schemes, Dutch authorities signalled a willingness to use domestic statutes to pursue transnational human-rights abuses when victims or perpetrators have ties to the Netherlands.

Human-rights groups and migration experts have for years documented abuses in Libya’s detention facilities and warned that criminal networks profit from migrants’ vulnerability. The Dutch conviction may set a legal precedent for other states seeking to hold organisers accountable when evidence links offences to their territories through victims, witnesses or financial transactions.

Prosecutors said the investigation will continue as they seek additional suspects and attempt to trace and disrupt financial flows that sustained the network.

By Newsroom

Axadle Times international–Monitoring.