Italy’s Meloni says she is being investigated over release of Libya suspect

Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni says she is suspected of aiding and abetting a crime and embezzlement in connection with the case of a Libyan man suspected of war crimes.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she has been placed under judicial investigation after her government released a Libyan police officer wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, was freed last week and flown home by an Italian state aircraft just days after being detained in the northern city of Turin under an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape.

The ICC has demanded an explanation, saying it had not been consulted over the decision to let Njeem go.

In a video message posted to social media on Tuesday, Meloni said she had been placed under investigation by Rome’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misuse of public funds.

Meloni pushed back on allegations of wrongdoing, saying that she “will not be blackmailed” and “will not be intimidated over an investigation”.

She said that prosecutors had also placed Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and the cabinet undersecretary for intelligence matters under investigation.

Italy detained Njeem in the city of Turin earlier this month, but the government unexpectedly released him two days later. He was then flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli.

The interior minister told parliament last week that Njeem had been swiftly repatriated for “reasons of state security”.

Opposition leaders ridiculed his explanation and both Piantedosi and Nordio are due to address parliament on Wednesday to give more information on what happened in a case that has soured relations between Rome and the ICC.

Njeem is the head of the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious Libyan network of detention centres run by the government-backed Special Defence Force (SDF).

Njeem is believed to have been in charge of Tripoli’s Mitiga detention centre, and is wanted on charges including murder, rape and sexual violence and torture committed since February 15, 2015.

The SDF has been implicated in atrocities in the civil war that followed the NATO-backed uprising that led to the overthrow and killing of longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Recently, the ICC’s chief prosecutor issued arrest warrants over alleged crimes in Libya beyond the civil war, including in detention facilities where human rights groups have documented abuses.