Italy’s interior minister says he expelled Libyan warlord wanted by ICC because he posed ‘danger’

ROME (AP) — Italy repatriated a Libyan warlord sought by the International Criminal Court due to security concerns, Italy’s interior minister told lawmakers Thursday in the government’s first official comment on its decision expel the suspect and not hand him over to face charges.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi fielded pointed questions from opposition lawmakers during a Senate session two days after Ossama Anjiem, also know as Ossama al-Masri, was flown on a government plane back to Tripoli, where he received a hero’s welcome. He had been arrested over the weekend in Turin after attending a soccer match.

Al-Masri was repatriated to Tripoli “for urgent security reasons, with my expulsion order, in view of the danger posed by the subject,’’ Piantedosi told the Senate. He refused to go into greater detail, citing a scheduled address to lawmakers next week.

Senators expressed dismay that Italy had ignored its obligations to the criminal court in the Netherlands to turn over criminal suspects. They repeated calls that Premier Giorgia Meloni respond to lawmakers’ questions in an open session.

The ICC warrant accused al-Masri of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya starting in 2015 that are punishable with life in prison.

The ICC said he was accused of murder, torture, rape and sexual violence. It said the warrant was transmitted to member states on Saturday, including Italy, and that the court had also provided real-time information that he had entered Europe. The court said it had reminded Italy at the time to contact it “without delay” if it ran into any problems cooperating with the warrant.

But Rome’s court of appeals ordered al-Masri freed Tuesday, and he was sent back to Libya aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services, because of what the appeals court said was a procedural error in his arrest. The ruling said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time, since the justice ministry handles all relations with the ICC. Nordio did not respond to lawmakers’ questions on Wednesday.

Italy has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, on whom it relies to patrol its coasts and prevent waves of migrants from leaving. Any trial in The Hague of al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.

Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept, and have accused Italy of being complicit in their mistreatment.