The notorious former Libyan prison director Osama Najim, known as Almasri, was sentenced on 21 June 2026 by the Criminal Court in Tripoli, Libya, to seven years and four months in prison for “violating the rights of prisoners”. Italy’s right wing is celebrating the verdict, claiming that justice has run its course and that the Italian government acted correctly. Italy had flown Almasri back to Libya on a state aircraft despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which was seeking him on more than ten counts for the gravest crimes. Sea-Watch strongly condemns the handling of the case. By releasing him, the Italian government ensured that an internationally wanted criminal was no longer within reach of international justice.
Sea-Watch spokesperson Julia Winkler:
“This is a farce. The verdict in Tripoli absolves neither Italy nor the European Union. The Italian government protected a war criminal from international justice, while the EU continues to legitimise and finance the very system of detention camps, militias and violence in which these crimes took place.”
The International Criminal Court is seeking Almasri on charges including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Italy arrested him in Turin in January 2025 and flew him back two days later on an Italian state aircraft. Now, he has been tried in Tripoli on only a fraction of those charges – in proceedings controlled by the very authorities that lend political legitimacy to Libya’s system of detention camps.
Sea-Watch stresses that this case is not only about Italy, but also about the EU’s role and responsibility in sustaining Libya’s system of violence. For years, the European Union and its member states have financed, equipped and politically legitimised Libyan authorities and militias in order to prevent people from reaching Europe. The result is a system in which people on the move are intercepted at sea, forcibly returned to Libya, detained, extorted, tortured and exploited.
Sea-Watch demands a fair and independent trial that not only exposes the system of camps, militias and human trafficking networks, but also addresses the political and potential criminal responsibility of those who continue to finance, enable and uphold this system – in Italy and the European Union.
The political and legal responsibility of European actors is also subject to ongoing international legal scrutiny. In 2022, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights filed a criminal complaint against senior representatives of the EU and its Member States for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the EU–Libya cooperation.
In May 2026, ICC proceedings advanced against another Libyan torturer: Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, a former senior figure at Mitiga Prison in Tripoli, who is also accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. El Hishri was arrested in Germany on 16 July 2025 on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court and was later surrendered to the Court. Survivors and affected people, as the initiative Refugees in Libya, are at the forefront of collecting evidence and fighting for justice.
