This paper examines how the Libyan state forcibly disappeared political dissidents and how Libyan citizens contested this form of violence. While forced disappearance is generally studied as a domestic event, I offer a sociological approach to forced disappearance that demonstrates the importance of globalization and transnational forces in determining who was forcibly disappeared and how this method of repression influences social movement repertoires of contention. Firstly, I find that, in the Libyan case, certain expressions of piety, including bodily comportment or attendance at early morning religious services, became indistinguishable from presumed fundamentalism due in part to politics associated with the Cold War. I argue that globalization and transnationalism, especially during the Cold War, are very important factors to consider when analyzing the politics surrounding disappearance, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. In the Libyan context, the association between piety and fundamentalism resulted in a widespread policing of what I term a “pious masculinity” that led to the forced disappearance of thousands of men in the late 1980s. In Libya, this pious disposition was reflected in the personal grooming habits, such as donning a long beard, and dress styles, including as short trousers, of young men. Secondly, I illustrate how family members contest disappearance through engaging in protest tactics that sought to humanize their disappeared relatives and renegotiate the meaning of piety. Among the key claims made by protestors who organize on behalf of disappeared relatives in Libya is that the government is at fault for the disappearances and that the piety of their relatives was a quality of their innocence rather than their guilt. The analysis draws on historical sources, interviews, and films of family members who contested the disappearances of their loved ones. This study contributes to our understandings of forced disappearance as a tactic of state repression and social movement repertoires of contention.