Italy says it sent home Libyan war crimes suspect because he was dangerous

By Angelo Amante

ROME (Reuters) -Italy's interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his "social dangerousness".

Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), which said he was suspected of crimes including the murder, torture and rape of detainees in Libya.

He was freed on Tuesday due to what an Italian interior ministry source said was a legal technicality and flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli. The ICC demanded an explanation, saying it had not been consulted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government.

"Following the non-validation of the arrest ... considering that the Libyan citizen ... presented a profile of social dangerousness ... I adopted an expulsion order for reasons of State security," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani made light of the ICC's objections, telling reporters the international court "is not the word of God, it's not the font of all truth."

"Italy is a sovereign country and we make our own decisions," he added.

Njeem is a brigadier general in Libya's Judicial Police who the ICC says is suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes at Mitiga prison.

Meloni's government depends heavily on Libyan security forces to prevent would-be migrants from leaving the North African nation and heading to southern Italy.

Piantedosi told lawmakers during a question time session in the upper-house Senate that Rome's appeals court ordered Njeem's release because they considered his arrest non-compliant with procedures.

The interior ministry source told Reuters previously that he was freed because local police had not immediately informed the Justice Ministry of the arrest, as required.

The ICC said the list of crimes listed in the arrest warrant had been "committed by Mr. Njeem personally, ordered by him, or with his assistance, by members of the Special Deterrence Forces".

Opposition parties said Piantedosi's explanations were inadequate and called on Prime Minister Meloni to come to parliament to clarify.

"You are plunging our country into utter shame, you talk about technicalities, but you have made a precise political choice," said senator Giuseppe De Cristofaro, from the Green-Left Alliance party.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Gavin Jones and Philippa Fletcher)