Archive · 27 Jan 2026
Eritrean Trafficker Jailed for 20 Years
A man named Amanuel Walid, also known as Tewelde Goitom, was sent to jail for 20 years in the Netherlands.
He was found guilty of hurting and scaring African people who were trying to move to Europe through Libya.
He and his group kept these people in big warehouses and made them suffer to get money from their families.
The judges said he did not care about how these people were treated.
This is one of the biggest cases about people smuggling in Europe.
The Netherlands could try him because of a special law that lets them judge crimes that happen in other countries if the victims are in the Netherlands.
Amanuel Walid, an Eritrean, was jailed for 20 years in the Netherlands for human trafficking and torture.
He ran a migration route through Libya, detaining thousands of African migrants and torturing them for ransom.
The trial, based on crimes committed between 2014 and 2019, is one of the largest human trafficking cases in Europe.
Walid claimed mistaken identity but was convicted and sentenced under Dutch law using universal jurisdiction.
Libya has become a major transit route for migrants fleeing to Europe since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
- Who
- Amanuel Walid (Tewelde Goitom), an Eritrean human trafficker
- What
- Tortured African migrants in Libya to extort ransoms
- When
- Between 2014 and 2019, sentenced in January 2024
- Where
- Libya (crimes), Netherlands (trial and sentencing)
- Why
- To extort money from migrants and their families
- Name
- Amanuel Walid (Tewelde Goitom)
- Age
- 42
- Nationality
- Eritrean
- Crimes
- Human trafficking, extortion, torture
- Sentence
- 20 years
- Location
- Libya
- Time Period
- 2014-2019
- Jurisdiction
- Netherlands