The news arrived from Tripoli and immediately inflamed Rome. The Libyan general prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest of the general Almasriformer head of prison security in the capital, accused of torturing prisoners and the death of one of them. The broadcaster made this known Libya24While Al Ahrar he specified that the measure was ordered by the attorney general Sadiq al Sour after an internal investigation into Foundation for Reform and Rehabilitationa penitentiary facility in Tripoli where violence against at least ten prisoners was documented.
The evidence collected – writes the Libyan press – would have been sufficient to justify the arrest. Almasri, adds the television, “is now in preventive detention”.
From Italy to Libya: a return that causes discussion
The name of Almasri is not new to Italian news. The general had been arrested in our country on a warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Haguewhich accused him of serious human rights violations, including rape and torture. But the matter had taken a controversial turn: the Italian government had ordered it liberation and expulsionallowing him to return to Libya aboard a state flight.
A gesture that had raised criticism from many quarters at the time, but which today, in light of the arrest by the Libyan judiciary, takes on the contours of a real political case.
The reactions in Italy: «A shameful page»
The news caused a wave of indignation among the opposition. The leader of the 5 Star Movement Giuseppe Conte he speaks openly of «humiliation» for the Meloni government: «In the end Almasri, a torturer also accused of raping children, was arrested in Libya. Instead, our prime minister and our ministers made him return home on state flights, trampling on international law and the International Criminal Court, whose Statute was signed in Rome. This is not Italy.”
The secretary of the Democratic Party is on the same line Elly Schleinwho asks for urgent information in Parliament: «Evidently for the Libyan prosecutor’s office international law does not apply “only up to a certain point”, as it does for the Italian government. This is a shameful figure on an international level, for which the government must apologize to the Italians.”
Also Matteo Renzileader of Italia Viva, points the finger at Palazzo Chigi: «Libyan justice has arrested General Almasri for torturing detainees. The Italian police also did it, for the same crime, almost a year ago. But Giorgia Meloni and Carlo Nordio chose to free him and paid for him on a state flight, writing a shameful page in the history of our country’s institutions.”
The secretary of the Greens and Left Alliance Nicola Fratoianni he ratchets up X: «Almasri’s arrest ordered in Tripoli for torture and abuse. What Nordio, Piantedosi and Mantovano prevented in January is now happening in Libya. A bit of shame at Palazzo Chigi, right?
The silence of the Farnesina
The Foreign Minister was questioned in the Chamber Antonio Tajani he cut it short: “I’m not dealing with it.” A response that did not contribute to calming the controversy.
The Almasri case, with its judicial and diplomatic implications, thus returns to weigh on relations between Rome and Tripoli and to challenge the civil conscience of a country which, in the past, had contributed to the drafting of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Today that same Italy is accused of having turned a blind eye to a torturer.
