Italian government puts on poor show as it tries to defend deportation of ICC-indictee

ROME – The Italian government presented its version of events in the deportation case of Osama Njeem Almasri, the alleged Libyan war criminal whom Italy deported despite an ICC arrest warrant issued against him. However, the absence of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did not go unnoticed.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told the lower chamber of parliament about Almasri’s arrest and subsequent deportation despite an outstanding ICC warrant for crimes against humanity, in a heated atmosphere marked by photos of torture in Libya, attacks on the International Criminal court and the absence of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni, who along with Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano and the two ministers is investigated for aiding and abetting and embezzlement in connection with the case, chose not to appear.

Her absence sparked strong protests from opposition lawmakers, who held up placards reading “Meloni, where are you?” and “Meloni, patriot on the run,” along with pictures of torture victims in Libya.

Nordio reconstructed the events and attributed the incident to an alleged bureaucratic miscommunication. According to the minister, the police headquarters’ report on Almasri’s arrest reached the Interior Ministry after the arrest had already taken place, without the ICC’s extradition request having been sent in advance.

He also criticised Interpol, accusing it of sending an “absolutely informal notification, lacking identifying details and the relevant warrant or its justification. Not even the extradition request was attached”.

Nordio also took direct aim at the ICC, arguing that its arrest warrant was flawed due to “absolute uncertainty over the date of the alleged crimes,” inconsistencies in its conclusions, and the fact that it was “issued in English, without translation, and with various attachments in Arabic.”

He dismissed the ICC’s initial request as “null and void”, saying that if he had asked the Attorney General’s office to hand over the documents, “within five days, the International Criminal Court itself would have declared them void”.

Nordio also lashed out at the national judiciary, accusing “a certain faction of the judiciary” of criticising the government’s actions “without even reading the files” and calling its behaviour “sloppy”. His comments have further inflamed an already tense relationship between the executive and the judiciary.

Interior Minister Piantedosi rejected any suggestion of government pressure or coercion to secure Almasri’s release. He defended the decision by citing ‘the high level of danger posed by the individual’ and ‘the need to ensure national security and maintain public order’.

The opposition also fiercely condemned the government’s handling of the case.

Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein accused Nordio of speaking “not as a minister, but as a defence attorney for a torturer.”

Riccardo Magi of +Europa called for a parliamentary inquiry into Italy’s agreements with Libya, while Matteo Renzi declared that Meloni “can no longer talk about migrants and traffickers” because “she had the boss of all bosses, the number one criminal” who “tortured, killed and raped children” and “still she let him go.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)