ROME: Italy’s government said Thursday a Libyan police chief arrested on a war crimes warrant was flown home after a court found no basis to detain him — and he was too dangerous to remain.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi defended before parliament the release on Tuesday of Osama Najim, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity charges related to his management of migrant detention camps.
Najim was arrested in the northern city of Turin on Sunday but returned to Tripoli Tuesday on an Italian air force plane after the court of appeals in Rome ruled that he could not be held.
Piantedosi told the Senate that the court had found the detention of Najim was “irregular” and “not provided for by law,” ordering him freed.
Najim was “then repatriated to Tripoli for urgent security reasons,” the minister said, citing “the dangerousness of the subject.”
Najim is believed to have been in charge of Tripoli’s Mitiga detention center, and is wanted on charges including murder, rape and sexual violence and torture, committed since 2015.
Italy’s release of the Libyan has drawn vehement criticism from opposition parties and a subtle rebuke from the ICC, which on Wednesday reminded its member state that it had a “duty” to “cooperate fully” in the court’s investigations and prosecutions.
It said Najim had been released and sent home “without prior notice or consultation with the court.”
In its order Tuesday to release Najim, the Rome appeals court wrote that the arrest did not conform to Italian law because ICC requests should first pass through the justice minister, who, “to date, has sent no request on the matter.”
Italian opposition parties have demanded that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni explain before parliament the reasons for the release of an accused war criminal wanted by the international court.
On Thursday, Sandra Zampa, a senator with the center-left Democratic party, called the affair “shameful.”
“He was not simply released from prison, but he was brought home on a state plane,” Zampa said, charging that “procedural errors have nothing to do with it.”
International human rights groups have long condemned abuses in Libyan detention centers, citing widespread violence and torture.
Rome has a controversial deal with the North African country — dating from 2017 and renewed under Meloni’s hard-right government — to provide funding and training to the Libyan coast guard.
In exchange, Libya was expected to help stem the departure of migrants to Italy or return those already at sea back to Libya, where they were often taken to such detention centers.
In 2011, the United Nations referred the situation in Libya to the ICC for investigation, a few months before a revolt toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi after four decades of iron-fisted rule.
Najim’s arrest and release come about a week after Rome and Tripoli resumed direct flights between the two capitals after a decade-long hiatus.
Italy’s foreign ministry hailed the “concerted effort” shown by Rome to strengthen ties with its former colony, calling Libya “a strategic and privileged partner for our country.”
Italy defends expulsion of wanted Libya police chief
https://arab.news/pw469
Italy defends expulsion of wanted Libya police chief
- Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi defended before parliament the release on Tuesday of Osama Najim, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes
- Piantedosi told the Senate that the court had found the detention of Najim was “irregular” and “not provided for by law”
UN chief visits Iraq to mark end of assistance mission set up after 2003 invasion
- Sudani said his country “highly values” the mission’s work in a region “that has suffered for decades from dictatorship, wars, and terrorism”
- Guterres praised “the courage, fortitude and determination of the Iraqi people”
BAGHDAD: United National Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Baghdad on Saturday to mark the end of the political mission set up in 2003 following the US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The UN Security Council, at Iraq’s request, voted last year to wind down the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), by the end of 2025. The mission was set up to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and help restore a representative government in the country.
Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said his country “highly values” the mission’s work in a region “that has suffered for decades from dictatorship, wars, and terrorism.” He said its conclusion showed Iraq had reached a stage of “full self-reliance.”
“Iraq emerged victorious thanks to the sacrifices and courage of its people,” he said in a joint statement with Guterres.
The ending of UNAMI’s mandate “does not signify the end of the partnership between Iraq and the UN,” Sudani said, adding that it represents the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation focused on development and inclusive economic growth.
The prime minister said a street in Baghdad would be named “United Nations Street” in honor of the UN’s work and in recognition of 22 UN staff who were killed in an Aug. 19, 2003, truck bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which housed the UN headquarters.
Guterres praised “the courage, fortitude and determination of the Iraqi people” and the country’s efforts to restore security and order after years of sectarian violence and the rise of extremist groups, including the Daesh group, in the years after the 2003 invasion.
“Iraqis have worked to overcome decades of violence, oppression, war, terrorism, sectarianism and foreign interference,” the secretary-general said. “And today’s Iraq is unrecognizable from those times.”
Iraq “is now a normal country, and relations between the UN and Iraq will become normal relations with the end of UNAMI,” Guterres added. He also expressed appreciation for Iraq’s commitment to returning its citizens from the Al-Hol camp, a sprawling tent camp in northeastern Syria housing thousands of people — mostly women and children — with alleged ties to the IS.
Guterres recently recommended former Iraqi President Barham Salih to become the next head of the UN refugee agency, the first nomination from the Middle East in half a century.
Salih’s presidential term, from 2018 to 2022, came in the immediate aftermath of the Daesh group’s rampage across Iraq and the battle to take back the territory seized by the extremist group, including the key northern city of Mosul.
At least 2.2 million Iraqis were displaced as they fled the IS offensive. Many, particularly members of the Yazidi minority from the northern Sinjar district, remain in displacement camps today.
