Five members of the criminal gang were sentenced to life in prison - others received between one and 15 years.

All had been involved in organising a dilapidated boat that was supposed to take the migrants to Italy.

Rights groups say many migrants experience horrific treatment there – both at the hands of smuggling gangs and inside state-run detention centres.

Libya has been plagued by conflict and chaos since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.