During his live 25-minute report by video link on Libya to the UN Security Council, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan:
- Demanded that Libya’s Attorney General, Siddig Al-Sour, arrest Osama Elmasry Njeem of Libya’s Judicial Police in charge of Mitiga Prison, and hand him over to the International Criminal Court on charges of committing crimes against humanity and torturing prisoners in Mitiga prison.
- Revealed that the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is cooperating with the ICC, is continuing to investigate Njeem, and has frozen funds belonging to Njeem in Britain worth £12 million.
- Revealed that Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, has officially dissolved the Special Deterrence Force (SDF / RADA) led by Abdelraouf Kara and that he has removed Ngeem from his post as head of the Judicial Police.
- Reported that the monitored movement of Militia leaders all over Libya has indicated that they are now concerned by ICC work in attempting to arrest them.
- Reported that the torture videos of missing MP Dersi are authentic.
- Said the act by Tripoli PM Aldabaiba to dissolve militias right now in these circumstances is historic.
- Said it is an opportunity to put a stop to these types of crimes.
- Said it is essential that states cooperate to remove the sense of impunity that militias, security personnel etc feel they enjoy in Libya.
- Reported that the ICC will complete the Tarhuna crimes and Mitiga prison crimes investigative reports by the end 2025 and Q1 of 2026.
- Announced that Libya has formally accepted the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes committed inside Libya from 2011 until the end of 2027.
The Osama Njeem saga with Italy
It will be recalled that the ICC had announced the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Osama Elmasry Njeem on 18 January 2025 (under seal, made public on 12 February 2025) for several war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Tripoli’s Mitiga Prison. These crimes were allegedly committed from February 2015 to October 2024, and included murder, torture, rape and sexual violence against Libyan nationals and migrants.
The ICC said this represents the first arrest warrant publicly issued by its Pre-Trial Chamber stemming from the Office’s investigations into alleged crimes in Mitiga prison. On the day the arrest warrant was issued, 18 January 2025, the ICC transmitted the warrant of arrest to Italy and requested his arrest under article 92 of the Rome Statute.
On 19 January 2025, Osama Elmasry Njeem was arrested by police in Italy. On 21 January 2025, Italy released the suspect from custody and flew him back to Libya.
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