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Analysis

Italian government escorts war criminal back home to continue his work

After being arrested under the Hague Court's executive order, Osama Najeem Elmasri should have been handed over to the international judges. Instead, he went back to Tripoli on an Italian state flight.

Italian government escorts war criminal back home to continue his work
Andrea Fabozzi
3 min read

It’s a simple case: The Libyan general in charge of Tripoli's so-called “judicial police” was detained in Turin on an International Criminal Court warrant, which has a case open against him as a torturer. He was then released after just 48 hours and triumphantly returned to his home country on an Italian state flight. 

Only the justifications of the Meloni government are muddying the waters.

After being arrested under the Hague Court's executive order, Osama Najeem Elmasri should have been handed over to the international judges “as soon as possible” to stand trial, according to the Court's statute, which was signed in Rome in 1998.

He faces a life sentence for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture and rape. However, Justice Minister Nordio, after a 24-hour silence, let it be known in a press release that he was studying “the complex dossier.” Meanwhile, the flight that was going to take Osama Najeem Elmasri back to Tripoli had already left Rome to pick him up in Turin. 

Nordio must not have been able to come up with anything even after all that strenuous “study,” so a way out was found a few hours later with the impressive level of diligence of the Prosecutor General's office and the Court of Appeal in Rome: the Minister of Justice (undoubtedly busy with studying the dossier) had apparently not been consulted before the arrest (which, however, was mandatory under an executive warrant, which is issued after the consultations have taken place). Thus, the troublesome Libyan “soccer fan” (Elmasri was in Turin for the Juventus-Milan match, and had plans to continue on to Rome) was not only released from prison, but also escorted with many apologies back to Tripoli, where he was greeted with parades and fireworks.

The government’s version evidently doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, and the story is much simpler. Elmasri, whom the ICC sees as a torturer, is a valuable collaborator with the Italian authorities. He is a key player in the “deadly policy” (in the words of the New York Times, not il manifesto) that tries to control migratory flows from Libya to Italy, with migrants risking dying of torture in detention centers on land or drowning at sea, based on the logic of pure profit and blackmail. There is no difference in the mode of action of Libyan human traffickers and jailers, whether official (like Elmasri) or unofficial: NGOs have always denounced this and a mission sponsored by the UN Secretary General has officially ascertained it as fact.

Everything is there in writing and is well known. In addition to the reports and indictments of the International Criminal Court, there are videos, photos, thousands of testimonies: the most horrifying violence is an everyday practice in Libyan centers. 

The hypocrisy of all the euphemistic language is a thin veneer that comes off immediately, like the apology from Nordio or the name of the repression apparatus headed by the lucky Libyan general who also got to save some cash on his return ticket: “Reform and Rehabilitation Institute.” Meaningless words, same as “justice” and “international law”: for our country, these count for nothing. It’s more important protect those who can continue to do us the favor of limiting departures, otherwise we will have to send migrants to Albania – which, as it turns out, is not an easy feat.

We also know the names of those who promoted and signed the “memorandum of understanding” with Libya that governs this whole system and justifies the transfer of money and means from Italy and Europe in support of it: Interior Minister Minniti and Prime Minister Gentiloni in 2017, Minister Lamorgese and President Conte who extended it in 2020, and Minister Piantedosi and Prim Minister Meloni who extended it again in 2022 until, as of now, 2026. 

The same Meloni promised to unleash a worldwide hunt for human traffickers, but is content to have a few desperate people among the survivors at sea arrested and identified as the supposed “boat people.” Meanwhile, we protect the real criminals and escort them back home, as long as they continue their work. In silence.


Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/un-lavoro-sporco-che-deve-continuare on 2025-01-23
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