Italy repatriated a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to security concerns.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi made the comments to lawmakers during a Senate session on Thursday, in the government’s first remarks on its decision to expel instead of hand the warlord over to face charges.

Ossama Anjiem – also known as Ossama al-Masri – was flown back on an Italian government plane back to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where he received a hero’s welcome. He was arrested over the weekend after he attended a football match in Turin.

Piantedosi says al-Masri was repatriated to Tripoli for “urgent security reasons, with my expulsion order, in view of the danger posed by the subject”. The interior minister told the Senate, refusing to go into greater detail, citing a scheduled address to lawmakers next week.

Senators were concerned that Rome had ignored its obligations to the ICC – based in The Hague – to turn over wanted criminal suspects. They repeated calls demanding Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni respond to lawmakers in an open question session.

The ICC warrant accuses al-Masri of perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya, starting in 2015. The warlord’s crimes are punishable with life in prison.

The ICC says he was accused of a slew of heinous crimes, among them murder, torture and rape. The court said the warrant was transmitted to member states on Saturday, including Italy. The court also provided real-time information that al-Masri had entered Europe.

The court reminded Italy at the time to contact it “without delay” if it ran into any problems cooperating with the warrant. But Rome’s court of appeals ordered al-Masri freed on Tuesday, after which he was sent aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services back to Libya.

The Rome court cited a “procedural error in his arrest” as the reason for his repatriation.

The ruling said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time as the justice ministry is the institution which handles all relations with the ICC.

Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept. Following al-Masri’s expulsion and return to Libya, they accuse Italy of complicity in their mistreatment.

ad

A survivor of the Nova music festival terrorist attack by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, has channeled her therapeutic journey through music and on Thursday secured the slot to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland.

Yuval Raphael, 24, reportedly began singing as a way to cope with the trauma she endured after she, four of her friends and roughly 40 others attempted to hide in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im after they fled the festival by car after the attack. 

Raphael, who was forced to hide under the bodies of those killed in front of her for about eight hours before help arrived, has shared her story and described how Hamas terrorists repeatedly returned to the bomb shelter and opened fire on those hiding inside. 

Eventually, the terrorists began throwing grenades into the concrete shelter, a story similar to what dozens endured that day, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

IDF KILLS HAMAS TERRORIST IT SAYS WORKED FOR UNRWA, LED CHARGE ON REIM BOMB SHELTER MASSACRE

“Music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process,” she said during the competition Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.

Despite having no previous experience as a singer, Raphael secured her top spot after singing “The Writings on the Wall” followed by a rendition of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” dedicated to “all the angels” killed in the October 2023 terrorist attack. The show, “Rising Star”, is shown on Israel’s Keshet channel 12.

Raphael had previously garnered international attention not with her powerhouse voice but by sharing her experience with the United Nations Human Rights Council in a move she said was not politically motivated but an attempt to bring attention to what innocent civilians endured that tragic day. 

TRUMP ENVOY SAYS GAZA CEASEFIRE COULD PAVE WAY FOR MIDEAST NORMALIZATION DEAL: ‘INFLECTION POINT’

Yuval Raphael, 24, won the slot to represent Israel at the Eurovision music competition Jan. 23, 2023, after having no prior singing experience. (Ortal Dahan Ziv)

“I want to tell them the story of the country, of what I went through, of what others went through,” she reportedly said ahead of the final. “I want to tell the story, but not from a place of seeking pity. I want it to be from a place of standing strong in the face of this and in the face of the boos I’m 100% sure will come from the crowd.”

Raphael’s comments were in reference to the pushback she and other Israelis have faced during the international competitions, including in 2024, following the terrorist attack and subsequent Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) operations in Gaza.

Yuval Raphael, 24, won the slot to represent Israel at the Eurovision music competition Jan. 23, 2023, despite having no prior singing experience. (Ortal Dahan Ziv)

Israel has faced calls to be banned from the international competition, but the European Broadcasting Union has rejected the push, affirming that Eurovision is a non-political music event. The 2024 Israeli contestant, Eden Golan, faced anti-Israeli protests and had to be granted a Shin Bet security detail.

Golan was also required to change the name of her song, “October Rain,” to “Hurricane” because event officials believed it was too political, The Times of Israel reported.