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(CN) — Libya’s prosecutor’s office said Wednesday it has detained former police commander Osama Almasri Najim, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, in Tripoli on charges of torturing inmates and abusing their rights, nearly 10 months after the International Criminal Court accused him of war crimes and crimes against humanity over similar acts at one of the city’s detention centers.
According to the Office of the Attorney General of Libya, Najim was taken into custody under national jurisdiction after investigators looked into reports from inmates in Tripoli who said they were tortured and treated in cruel and degrading ways.
The inquiry, prosecutors said, gathered testimony and evidence describing the mistreatment of 10 detainees, one of whom died as a result of brutality. “Having found sufficient grounds to bring charges, the prosecution referred the accused, who remains in preventive detention, to the competent court for judgment,” the statement added.
Najim once oversaw security and operations across Tripoli, giving him control over the notorious Mitiga Prison — a site repeatedly flagged by U.N. investigators for torture, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence.
Human rights groups say the prison has long escaped real oversight, run by the Special Deterrence Forces, or RADA, a powerful militia formally under the Interior Ministry but widely seen as operating on its own.
The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant for Najim this past January, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, severe abuse, rape and persecution at Mitiga since 2015.
The court said “the crimes set out in the warrant were committed by Mr. Njeem personally, ordered by him, or with his assistance by members of the Special Deterrence Forces,” focusing on prisoners jailed for their faith, political ties, or what the militia viewed as moral offenses — including behavior seen as violating religious codes, such as homosexuality.
Najim’s name first made international headlines this year after his arrest in Turin on the ICC warrant and his sudden release two days later. “An irreconcilable contradiction emerges regarding an essential element of the criminal conduct of the arrested person, regarding the time of the crime committed,” Italian authorities said, citing “patent, gross and serious contradictions” within the ICC warrant.
The decision sparked outrage among European lawmakers and prompted a political inquiry in Rome. In January, he was flown back to Tripoli on a military aircraft, disappearing from public view until this week’s announcement.
Libya is once again under the spotlight for its long struggle with justice and accountability. Fourteen years after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled and killed during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended his four-decade rule, the country remains split between two rival governments — the U.N.-recognized administration in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and a parallel authority in the east aligned with military commander Khalifa Haftar. Each side is backed by its own network of militias and foreign sponsors, from Turkey and Qatar in the west to Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates in the east.
Years of war, political chaos and weak institutions have left much of Libya in the hands of armed groups. In many areas, detention, abuse and extortion are part of daily life. International monitors, including the United Nations, say impunity is still the rule rather than the exception, with victims rarely finding justice in national courts.
Najim’s arrest has once again drawn global attention to the International Criminal Court, which has been investigating grave human rights violations and atrocities in Libya since the U.N. Security Council’s 2011 referral. For now, only one ICC arrest warrant remains unexecuted in the Libya situation, for Saif Al-Islam Gadhafi, the late dictator’s son, who is still wanted for crimes against humanity.
The ICC has not officially commented on whether it will seek Najim’s transfer to The Hague, but ICC prosecutors have repeatedly urged Libyan authorities to cooperate with their investigations. His detention now stands as a fresh test of whether Libya’s fractured justice system is both willing and able to hold powerful figures to account.
Courthouse News reporter Eunseo Hong is based in the Netherlands.
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