Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness“.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based international criminal court (ICC).
Najim, who is chief of Libya’s judicial police, is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as alleged rape and murder. He also presides over Mitiga prison, a facility near Tripoli condemned by human rights organisations for the arbitrary detention, torture and abuse of political dissidents, migrants and refugees.
He was freed on Tuesday due to a procedural technicality and flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli. The ICC demanded an explanation, saying on Wednesday that he had been released from custody and transported back to Libya by prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government “without prior notice or consultation with the court”.
“Following the non-validation of the arrest … considering that the Libyan citizen … presented a profile of social dangerousness … I adopted an expulsion order for reasons of state security,” interior minister Matteo Piantedosi said.
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani made light of the ICC’s objections, telling reporters the international court “is not the word of God, it’s not the font of all truth”.
“Italy is a sovereign country and we make our own decisions,” he added.
Najim is a brigadier general in Libya’s judicial police who the ICC says is suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes at Mitiga prison.
Meloni’s government depends heavily on Libyan security forces to prevent would-be migrants from leaving the north African nation and heading to southern Italy.
Piantedosi told lawmakers during a question time session in the Senate that Rome’s appeals court ordered Najim’s release because they considered his arrest non-compliant with procedures.
An interior ministry source told Reuters previously that he was freed because local police had not immediately informed the justice ministry of the arrest, as required.
Opposition parties said Piantedosi’s explanations were inadequate and called on prime minister Meloni to come to parliament to clarify.
“You are plunging our country into utter shame, you talk about technicalities, but you have made a precise political choice,” said senator Giuseppe De Cristofaro, from the Green-Left Alliance party.
