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Reuters

The International Criminal Court demanded answers from Italy over why it freed a Libyan man suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence.
Italy detained Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, on Sunday in Turin after receiving a tipoff from The Hague-based ICC, which had issued an international arrest warrant against him.
However, the Italian government unexpectedly freed him on Tuesday because of a legal technicality, an Interior Ministry source said. He was immediately flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli, where he received a hero’s welcome.
The ICC, which has been investigating alleged serious crimes committed in Libya since the country’s 2011 civil war, said in a statement it had urged Italy to contact its staff if there were any problems with the arrest process.

However, it said Njeem had been let go without prior notice or consultation.
“The Court is seeking, and is yet to obtain, verification from the authorities on the steps reportedly taken,” the ICC said on Wednesday.
Neither Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office nor the Justice Ministry has commented on the case, which is likely to cause the government deep embarrassment. The Interior Ministry source said Njeem was freed because local police had not immediately informed the Justice Ministry as required.
Njeem’s release was a blow for the ICC, which is facing ferocious pushback in the United States after issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister over Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
“The Court recalls the duty of all (member states) to cooperate fully with the Court in its investigations and prosecutions of crimes,” the ICC statement said.
Video on social media showed Njeem, who is a brigadier general in Libya’s Judicial Police, being carried on the shoulders of supporters after he arrived at Mitiga Airport in Tripoli on Tuesday night.

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
The release and return to Tripoli of Almasri, a human trafficker and war criminal leaves us astonished, incredulous.
- ⁦@RescueMed⁩ https://t.co/ahZpEIfuq2
— Refugees In Libya (@RefugeesinLibya) January 22, 2025

Meloni’s conservative administration depends heavily on Libyan security forces for preventing would-be migrants from leaving the North African nation and heading to southern Italy.
The ICC said the list of crimes in the arrest warrant had been “committed by Mr Njeem personally, ordered by him, or with his assistance, by members of the Special Deterrence Forces”.
It said the alleged crimes took place at Mitiga prison, against people who had been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, such as being Christian, for perceived contraventions of religious ideology, such as homosexuality, or for their suspected support of other armed groups.
Two humanitarian groups, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Refugees in Libya, which have documented abuses committed against migrants in Libyan detention facilities, said they were incredulous that Italy let Njeem go.
David Yambio, a 27-year-old from South Sudan who said he was abused by Njeem while he was detained at the Mitiga prison in 2019-2020, said he felt betrayed by Italy.
Yambio, who eventually escaped from the prison and arrived in Italy on a smuggler’s boat in 2022, said he had a “fleeting feeling of justice” when he heard that Njeem had been arrested in Turin.
“Those who waited long before me, the Libyans who are victims of his criminal network, his war crimes, have been wanting for this day to come,” said Yambio, who received asylum and now lives in Modena and runs his Refugees in Libya advocacy group. “But when it came, it was immediately extinguished hours before it could even truly be felt in our hearts.”
Njeem’s release came little over a week after Rome had abruptly released an Iranian businessman who had been detained on a US warrant, in an apparent swap for an Italian journalist who had been arrested in Tehran.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Italy detained a Libyan suspect on the back of an ICC arrest warrant, but he was swiftly released and flown home to Tripoli


Italy detained a Libyan suspect on the back of an ICC arrest warrant, but he was swiftly released and flown home to Tripoli.


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