Libya has detained Osama Almasri Njeem, a senior police officer, months after Italy arrested him on international war crimes charges and swiftly repatriated him, sparking political controversy.
Njeem, the head of the Operations and Judicial Security Department in the justice ministry in Tripoli, is alleged to have committed, ordered, or assisted in the murder or torture, including rape, of detainees in the Mitiga Prison in Tripoli from February 2015 onwards.
The Libyan attorney general’s office said Njeem is currently in pretrial detention, with sufficient evidence to support the charges.
The prosecutor’s office has received reports of “torture and cruel and degrading treatment of inmates” and conducted an interrogation addressing the circumstances surrounding human rights violations against ten inmates and the death of one inmate as a result of torture.
Njeem’s repatriation from Italy sparked outrage, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) complaining about Italy’s handling of the case.
The Italian government claimed Njeem was freed on procedural grounds, but opposition parties accused them of wrongdoing.
The Rome Tribunal of Ministers asked parliament to lift immunity for three ministers over their handling of the case, but they were voted down.
