Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister is under investigation after releasing Najim to Libya. Photo Credit Flickr 99list Canada
The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is under investigation for releasing a Libyan police chief wanted by the ICC (international criminal court).
The supposed warlord, Osam Najim, stepped off a plane provided by the Italian government yesterday in Libya to crowds celebrating his return.
The Italian opposition and wider European community have expressed shock at the decision to release him back to Libya. Najim is wanted for multiple heinous acts and an ICC warrant out was out for his arrest in six European countries for purported war crimes, crimes against humanity, he also supposedly murdered, tortured, enslaved, raped and committed acts of sexual violence against victims in Libyan detention facilities. According to the ICC Najim’s crimes began as far back as 2015 at Mitiga Prison.
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He is commander of the judicial police and director of the Rehabilitation and Correction Facility, a network of prisons that have become infamous for their inhumane acts. The ICC said that Najim targeted individuals in these facilities based on their religious beliefs, with some victims being atheists or Christians, for supposed immoral behaviours, for their sexual orientation and suspected affiliation with rival armed forces.
Supposed war criminal Osam Najim had moved through multiple countries in Europe before being detained, he visited London, Belgium and Germany before being arrested at an Italian football match.
Najim managed to move unhindered through Europe for about two weeks until Friday, January 31 where he was arrested after attending a football match between Juventus and AC Milan by Italian authorities after an ICC arrest warrant was issued. Unfortunately, the Italian government failed to follow through on the warrant and instead sent him home in one of their planes from Turin.
Meloni, Italy’s prime minister has come under fire and is now facing an investigation for aiding and abetting crimes in the Najim case. Meloni has said that Najim was deported swiftly because he posed a risk to Italy’s national security.
Critics of Meloni and the Najim situation have suggested that Italy may have been blackmailed by Libya into releasing the warlord. Whilst human rights groups have suggested complicity between Italy and Libya, as Libyan authorities detain migrants and refugees making their way out of Africa and into Italy, there is well-documented abuse of these detainees in Libyan detention camps.