Entire neighbourhoods in the city of Derna were swept away, and evacuation efforts were botched.   The convicted officials were responsible for managing water resources and maintaining the dams.

They were charged with crimes including negligence, premeditated murder and wasting public money.

Three of the defendants were also ordered to repay money obtained through illicit means, the public prosecutor’s office said. Four others put on trial were acquitted.

An international report in January said the dams gave way partly due to poor maintenance and governance during more than a decade of conflict in Libya.

A week after the disaster hit Derna, furious residents burnt down the mayor’s home as they demanded answers. The whole city council was dismissed.

In the days after the floods, residents told reporters  that evacuation orders focused on the wrong part of Derna, that no sufficient provision was made for where evacuated people should shelter and that some of the stay-at-home orders and curfews contradicted each other.

Locals also told the BBC that some people who were evacuated from the seafront because of fears of rising sea levels were moved to more dangerous areas that later flooded.