A torture survivor, who was unlawfully detained in Libya, has filed a complaint against Italy to the European Court of Human Rights for its failure to execute an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for one of his torturers, a high-ranking Libyan official. Osama Elmasry Njeem (also known as Almasri), controls a number of detention centers where the applicant was detained, and is being investigated by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The application on behalf of the survivor (who has requested to remain anonymous for their protection) was submitted by a legal team led by professors Andrea Saccucci and Chantal Meloni with the support of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Refugees in Libya. The case, Y v. Italy, was filed in April 2025 and the Italian government was notified in May 2026.

After fleeing South Sudan, the applicant was crossing the Central Mediterranean sea when he was violently intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, an entity which receives substantial funding, equipment and training from the EU and Italy. The applicant was unlawfully detained in sites in Libya under the control of Elmasry (a senior member of the Special Deterrence Force for Combatting Terrorism and Organized Crime, SDF/RADA) including in the Mitiga compound where he was subjected to torture, forced labour and other forms of abuse by Elmasry. The applicant subsequently managed to get to Italy and acquired refugee status. 

In January 2025, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Elmasry for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Mitiga detention site, including torture, rape, murder and enslavement. On 19 January, Elmasry was arrested in Italy pursuant to an arrest warrant for CAH. However, Rome’s Court of Appeal ordered his release, and he was repatriated to Libya on an Italian state aircraft. The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber concluded that Italy had failed in its obligation to cooperate with the Court by not surrendering the suspect. 

Under articles 2 and 3 ECHR, the applicant argues that Italy breached its obligations to conduct an effective investigation and ensure accountability for grave human rights violations, which also includes an obligation to cooperate with international authorities. 

After the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya entered a period of political fragmentation and violence, amounting to a non-international armed conflict. In western Libya, SDF/RADA became one of the most influential armed actors in Tripoli. As a central part of their consolidation of power, SDF/RADA maintained control over the Mitiga compound, which includes an airport, other strategic assets and a prison complex in which Libyans and migrants and refugees are arbitrarily detained and systematically abused. 

People on the move who end up in Mitiga Prison arrive through human trafficking or slave trade, through violent interceptions at sea and forced return to Libyan detention, or abduction by armed groups. For them, Mitiga Prison is one part of a broader migrant detention industry in Libya, in which people are systematically commodified and abused for labor, profit, and power within the country’s conflict economy. 

The ICC has been investigating grave crimes committed against migrants and refugees since 2017, within the Libya Situation. Elmasry is not the only Mitiga-related suspect sought by the ICC. In the first case arising from the ICC’s 15 year investigation into Libya, proceedings have begun against Khaled Mohamed Ali el Hishri, another senior figure within SDF/RADA.