Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Says She's Under Investigation Over Release of Libyan Warlord Wanted by ICC

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Tuesday that she is under judicial investigation concerning Italy's unexpected release of Osama Elmasry Njeem, a Libyan police officer sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, was released last week after being detained just a few days earlier under an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and two government ministers for repatriating a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Meloni announced on Tuesday. She revealed the investigation over allegedly aiding and abetting Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, in a video posted on social media. She said her justice and interior ministers and an under-secretary are also targeted in the investigation. Meloni’s government has been under fire from the opposition, human rights groups and the ICC itself for releasing al-Masri on a technicality after he was arrested in the northern city of Turin on a warrant from the international court.

Osama Elmasry 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. The ICC has demanded an explanation, saying it had not been consulted over the decision. Meloni said in a message posted on social media that she had been placed under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misuse of public funds. She is under no obligation to resign, and being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt, nor mean that formal charges will necessarily follow. "I will not be blackmailed, I will not allow myself to be intimidated, which may be why I am, let's say, disliked by those who do not want Italy to change and become better," Meloni said in a video posted on her Facebook profile.