Italy has arrested an internationally wanted suspected war criminal from Libya – and immediately released him. The International Criminal Court was not contacted about this. The court is now demanding clarification.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is demanding answers from Italy as to why it released a Libyan wanted on an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The wanted man, Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, was arrested in Turin on Sunday following a tip-off from the ICC. However, the Italian government unexpectedly released him on Tuesday due to a legal technicality, an Interior Ministry insider told Reuters. Njeem then immediately flew to Tripoli, Libya.
According to human rights groups, people are being held in cruel conditions in the prison camp he runs. The ICC arrest warrant accordingly refers to crimes against humanity that were allegedly committed there. He has been wanted since 2015.
Release without consultation with ICC
As the Italian news agency Ansa reported, the authorities cite the “legal formal error” because the police who arrested Najeem did not immediately inform the Ministry of Justice in Rome about Najeem's detention, as required.
Neither Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office nor the Justice Ministry have yet commented on the case. Meloni's right-wing conservative government relies heavily on Libyan security forces to prevent migrants from leaving the North African country and reaching southern Italy.
ICC calls for review of steps
The ICC, which has been investigating serious crimes in the country since Libya's civil war in 2011, said it had previously asked Italy to contact the court if there were problems with the arrest process. However, Njeem was released without prior notice or consultation. Efforts are now being made to check the steps the authorities have allegedly taken, but have not yet received anything.
Videos online showed Njeem, who is a brigadier general in the Libyan Criminal Police, being carried on the shoulders of supporters after arriving at Tripoli's Mitiga airport on Tuesday evening.
Sharp criticism from the opposition
Opposition MPs from several parties expressed outrage following Najeem's release. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi accused Meloni of hypocrisy because of her stated goal of fighting human traffickers: “If a human trafficker arrives who the International Criminal Court tells us is a dangerous criminal, you don't hunt him down, you let him fly home on a state plane.”
Human rights groups also sharply criticized the release. Mediterranea Saving Humans described the move as a “shameful protection” given by the right-wing government in Rome to a “human trafficker and torturer.”
