Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was arrested Sunday in Turin on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court [GETTY]
Police in Italy have arrested the head of Libya’s judicial police who directs Tripoli’s Mitiga detention centre, Italian news reports said Monday.
Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was arrested Sunday in Turin on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to media.
A journalist for Avvenire daily who broke the news, Nello Scavo, wrote on social media: “We can confirm from dedicated sources that on the mandate of the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the head of the Libyan judicial police was arrested in Turin.”
Migrant rescue group Mediterranea Saving Humans said Almasri’s arrest came after “years of complaints and testimonies from victims”.
“Almasri is proof of how the entire Libyan system, supported in recent years by millions of euros from Italian governments and the European Union, is atrocious and criminal,” it wrote on X.
La Repubblica daily reported that Almasri was arrested in a hotel following a tip from Interpol.
The newspaper cited a Turin prosecutor as saying the arrested man had been in Turin with other Libyans.
The case will be forwarded for examination to the Court of Appeals in Rome.
International human rights groups have long condemned abuses in Libyan detention centres, citing widespread violence and torture.
Rome’s controversial deal with Libya, dating from 2017 and renewed under the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, involves providing funding and training to the Libyan coastguard.
In exchange, Libya is expected to help stem the departure of migrants to Italy or return those already at sea back to Libya, where they are often taken to such detention centres.
Italian prosecutors were not immediately available to confirm the reports, and Interpol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.