ROME – The Italian government has decided not to send Najeem Osama Almasri Habish, the 47-year-old former head of the judicial police of the Tripoli regime, to the International Criminal Court (I.C.L.) according to judicial sources. 

 Almasri was accused of committing war crimes and torture from 2015 in the notorious       

 Mitiga prison, where the Libyan Militia keep jihadists, homosexuals, migrants waiting to journey to Italy and other enemies of the state.

 Almasri was arrested Sunday in Turin, where he had travelled from Germany to attended the Juventus-Milan game, due to an Interpol Red Notice that was released the day prior by the Court of the Hague.

 Tuesday, however, the Court of Appeal in Rome, which is able to handle arrest mandates from the I.C.L., released him because it was ‘not protocol’. In fact, the Minister of Justice, who in accordance with law 237 of 2012 is the only person who can start the procedure, did not start the procedure. 

 A presidential aircraft took the alleged torturer back to Tripoli, as he was expelled ‘for reasons pertaining to public order and security’ according to Minister of the Interior, Matteo Pientedosi. 

 A press release from the Court of the Hague, stated that Saturday 18. on the same day as the issue of the arrest warrant for Almasri, the I.C.L. had issued arrest warrants which were specialised in accordance with the procedures of recipient states, including the Republic of Italy. 

 This would entail that Minister for Justice, Carlo Nordio, or at least his office would have immediately received these documents.

 He did not send them to the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office as required by Law 237 of 2012, even when the general public prosecutor urged him to on Monday, as has been stated in the Court of Appeal. 

 It is untrue that the I.C.L. wrote to the ministry after the arrest, as had previously been suggested. 

 The judges of the Court of the Hague continue that Almastri was released Jan. 21. ‘without notice or consultation with the court.’

 According to the Fatto Quotidiano, another factor that would suggest that this was a political choice on the part of the government was that Monday 21., while the Court of Appeal was still deciding whether to release Almastri, the presidential aircraft had already departed from Rome at 10:14 A.M. and had arrived in Turin at 11:13 A.M. 

 Some hours later at 3:15 P.M. a communication was released from the justice office stating that Nordio had ‘received’ and was ‘evaluating’ the request from the Court of the Hague. 

 The Minister had probably not been informed about the departure of the plane earlier in the morning. 

  It was not made clear how the 3 other Libyan nationals, who were with him at the time, were returned to Libya. 

 According to Fatto since the introduction of Law 237 in 2012, not a since accused criminal has been delivered to the I.C.L. since. 

 The Italian government has been accused of ‘setting a criminal free’ by opposition. 

 Minister Nordio has yet to comment publicly on the matter. 

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