On 21 February, the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) formally requested Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue a ruling against the Italian government for non-compliance regarding the surrender of the head of the Mitiga detention centre, Osama Njeem (aka ‘al-Masri’), to Libyan authorities. According to the documents submitted by the ICC Prosecutor, the Italian authorities failed to cooperate with the ICC’s requests for al-Masri’s arrest, since they released al Masri after two days of detention and flew him back to Libya. The Prosecutor argues that this non compliance has obstructed the ICC’s ability to carry out its judicial functions. As a result, the Prosecutor has invoked Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute, which allows the Court to refer non-cooperative states to the UN Security Council (UNSC).
