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The failure to arrest and surrender Osama Elmasry Njeem: “That Awful Mess” in Rome

On 21 January 2025, the Court of Appeals of Rome, at the request of the concerned person and with the favorable opinion of the Prosecutor General, issued an order of immediate release in favor of Mr Osama Elmasry Njeem, who had been arrested by the Italian police in Turin the day before, pursuant to an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 18 January 2025. According to media reports, Elmasry first arrived in Italy on 6 January, and travelled to various European countries before being arrested. Immediately after his release, Mr Elmasry was expelled and repatriated on a military flight to Libya, where he was cheerfully welcomed by supporters. Details on the expulsion were made known on 23 January, when the Italian Minister of the Interior, informing the Parliament on the matter, said that he had signed an expulsion order against…

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The ICC Prosecutor’s Slavery Crimes Policy and Practice Between Conviction and Convenience

In December 2024, the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor (‘OTP’ or ‘Prosecutor’) adopted a Slavery Crimes Policy (‘Policy’). The Policy communicates the Prosecutor’s commitment to prioritizing investigations concerning contemporary slavery. It envisions a role for the Prosecutor in curbing slavery crimes through the pursuit of criminal accountability for the crimes within the Court’s…

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Drowning Migrants in the Mediterranean and the ICCPR, Again

Last week 130 migrants perished off the coast of Libya, as their rubber boat capsized in the stormy Mediterranean. Some 750 migrants have died this year in trying to make the crossing. (See here for the IOM report, and here and here for the recent posts we had on this topic…

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The Decentralisation of International Crimes: A shift from the central criminal apparatus at the ICC?

In her statement to the UN Security Council on November 2018, Fatou Bensouda vowed to search ‘outside of Libya’ for accountability of global actors in the migration context. This is one of the many moves by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in their prosecutorial trajectory towards a more holistic approach. Such an approach widens the accountability…

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Time to Investigate European Agents for Crimes against Migrants in Libya

In March 2011, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor of the international criminal court opened its investigation into the situation in Libya, following a referral by the UN Security Council. The investigation concerns crimes against humanity in Libya starting 15 February 2011, including the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution, allegedly committed by Libyan agents. As…

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