Italian PM faces investigation for freeing Libyan suspect

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on January 28th that she is under judicial investigation following her government’s decision to release a Libyan police officer wanted by the International Criminal Court, The Arab Weekly via Reuters reported.
Osama Elmasry Najeem was arrested in Turin under an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape. He was later flown back to Libya on an Italian state aircraft. The ICC has urged for an explanation, asserting it was not consulted before his release.
Meloni posted on social media that Rome’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Le Voi, had placed her under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misusing public funds. In Italy, being under investigation does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to formal charges.
“I will not be blackmailed, I will not allow myself to be intimidated, which may be why I am… disliked by those who do not want Italy to change and become better,” Meloni said in a Facebook video.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and cabinet undersecretary for intelligence affairs, Alfredo Mantovano, are also under investigation, according to Meloni. Meloni said she thinks the inquiry was triggered by lawyer Luigi Li Gotti, who filed a complaint regarding Najeem’s release and the use of an official jet for his return to Tripoli.
“What I did was a necessary act. I did it as a matter of dignity both for human rights and for all Italian citizens,” Li Gotti told Reuters on January 28th.
The interior minister informed parliament last week that Najeem was swiftly sent back home for state security reasons. Opposition figures found this explanation to be ridiculous.
When asked about the investigation, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said that the court does not comment on national judicial proceedings.
Meloni noted that Najeem travelled to three European countries over 12 days before reaching Italy, where the ICC requested his arrest. Najeem is a brigadier general in Libya’s Judicial Police. Meloni’s government relies on Libyan security forces to stop migration from the North African country.
Meloni said the same prosecutor handling her case previously investigated Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini for allegedly abducting 100 migrants aboard a boat, which he had blocked at sea for almost three weeks, during 2019. Salvini was acquitted for that case in December 2024.
Supporters of Meloni accused the judiciary of political motives. “We are faced with yet another example of politicised justice that aims to attack the Meloni government,” said Lucio Malan, head of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party in the Senate.
The Arab Weekly via Reuters