Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio has said Rome had no choice but to release a Libyan war crimes suspect due “errors and inaccuracies” in an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Osama Almasri Najim, head of Libya’s judicial police, was apprehended in Turin on 19 January.
Two days later, he was released and flown back to Tripoli on an Italian air force plane.
Mr Najim faces various charges including murder, rape, and torture linked to his role at Tripoli’s Mitiga detention centre, and his release drew condemnation from opposition parties and NGOs.
Addressing the Italian parliament on Wednesday, Carlo Nordio said the warrant that led to Mr Najim’s detention was riddled with “inaccuracies, omissions, discrepancies and contradictory conclusions” which meant the Libyan citizen could not be held in jail.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mr Najim was expelled as he was a “national security risk”.
Images shared by Libyan media showing a jubilant crowd welcoming Mr Najim back circulated widely on Italian media. The ICC has demanded an explanation from the Italian authorities.
Elly Schlein, leader of the opposition Democratic Party (PD), accused Nordio of speaking not as a government minister but as a “defence lawyer for a torturer”.
Last week, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni disclosed that she, Nordio and Piantedosi were under investigation in connection with Mr Najim’s release.
A special court that handles cases involving ministers has begun an investigation.
David Yambio, a 27-year-old from South Sudan who says he was abused in Tripoli’s Mitiga prison, told the BBC that Italy was “complicit in the atrocities taking place in Libya”.
He says he first encountered Mr Najim after he was caught at sea while trying to cross the Mediterranean on a boat and was returned to Libya.
After he was forced to join a militia – which he says was “a pure nightmare” – Mr Yambio ended up in Mitiga, where he says he suffered months of torture. He also said he saw Mr Najim abuse other migrants.
“The injustice we suffered, and how Italy became complicit in our eyes, is clear. They took justice away from us.”
“Our torturer was in Italy, he was arrested, and then he was smuggled back to Libya,” Mr Yambio added.
As a signatory to the ICC, Italy is legally bound to execute the court’s warrants.
But critics suggest Italy’s decision to free Mr Najim may have been influenced by its political and business ties with Libya.
In 2017, the centre-left government of Paolo Gentiloni forged a deal with Tripoli that saw Italy pay the Libyan coastguard to intercept migrant boats before they reach Italian shores.
NGOs have consistently criticised this policy, which they say exposes migrants to dire conditions in Libyan detention centres.
The case has now dominated Italian headlines for weeks.
Yet it is unlikely the investigation into Meloni, Nordio and Piantedosi will yield any meaningful consequences, given the government’s solid parliamentary majority.
Last week, Meloni suggested that the investigation was part of a politically motivated attack from the left and said she would not be “blackmailed or intimidated”.
But some commentators believe that Libya’s ability to leverage its relationship with Rome highlights Italy’s vulnerability on migration – one of Meloni’s flagship issues.
“While Meloni insists she is not susceptible to blackmail from the judiciary, she is highly vulnerable to Libya, given her fixation on migration,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of Rome’s Institute for International Affairs.
She added that the issue had been “weaponised and exploited” by Libya.
“The implicit message is: either you release Mr Najim or we will let the migrant boats through.”
Libya plays a key role in the success of Meloni’s Mattei Plan – an ambitious set of policies that aims to boost European co-operation with Africa in exchange for curbing irregular migration.
“The question of Libya is and remains a matter of… national security, meaning the safety of all citizens,” former interior minister Marco Minniti told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“A large part of national security is played out beyond national borders.”
For Mr Yambio and other survivors of the atrocities that Mr Najim is accused of, the release of the man they say tortured them is “a deep betrayal”.
In a letter to Giorgia Meloni, they called for an end to the Italy-Libya migration agreement, as well as the release of those still detained in Libyan camps.
“We are witnesses of so many crimes that Mr Najim is responsible for,” Mr Yambio said.
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