The head of Aise goes to Libya to prevent more Almasri cases for Italy

On January 28th, the head of Aise, Giovanni Caravelli, flew to Tripoli for an important secret meeting with the top officials of the Libyan government. According to sources heard by Il Foglio, the purpose of the short visit was to devise a plan to prevent new embarrassing incidents like the one last month that led to the arrest and immediate release of Osama al Najem "Almasri," head of the Mitiga penitentiary police. Caravelli met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba and the chief prosecutor of Tripoli, al Sidiq al Sour, to discuss the confidential names of some Libyans for whom the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants. The head of Aise informed them of who among these individuals could travel to Italy in the future without the risk of being arrested.

As revealed by Il Foglio on January 27th, after the Almasri case, the Hague court issued another 86 arrest warrants, all confidential, against other Libyan leaders and militia commanders. The judges' decision to keep the names private aims to facilitate the arrest of the wanted individuals by exploiting the element of surprise. This strategy had already proven effective with Almasri, who was unaware of the arrest warrant against him and was identified and stopped by the Digos in Turin on January 19th.

The fact that the head of our external intelligence services reveals these names to the Libyan authorities, ensuring them freedom of movement in the event of future travel to Italy, is part of the various courtesies extended by our country to the Libyan government. For many of these individuals, leaving Libya is crucial to managing their financial activities abroad. For Italy, however, it is a way to prevent further international blunders, with arrests – and subsequent releases – that are difficult to manage both politically and in the media. On the international front, disclosing this information could further complicate relations between Italy and the Hague Court. In addition, the ICC prosecutor's office is already considering a complaint filed by a Sudanese refugee against our government for failing to arrest Almasri.

The temporal context of Caravelli's trip to Libya falls in the midst of the ongoing conflict between the judiciary and intelligence services over various dossiers and demonstrates that the Italian government took action to prevent further incidents. January 28 was the day when Giorgia Meloni publicly announced via a social media video the launch of an investigation into herself, Ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Carlo Nordio, and Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano by Rome's Chief Prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi. The following day, January 29, was supposed to be the date of Nordio and Piantedosi’s parliamentary briefing, which was subsequently postponed precisely due to the notification of the investigation against them.

The news of the raid in Tripoli finds some corroboration through another, more general testimony that has recently emerged. Libyan activist Husam El Gomati confirmed on the La7 program Piazzapulita that in the days following Almasri's return to Tripoli Mitiga airport aboard a flight operated by Italian intelligence, "a high-ranking official from Italian intelligence visited Libya."

El Gomati’s name has appeared in many Italian and international newspapers because he was among those targeted by the Graphite spyware, produced by the Israeli company Paragon Solutions and sold, among others, to the Italian government. According to allegations—though lacking factual evidence—made by the activist last week in The Guardian, it was Italian intelligence that launched the cyberattack against him as retaliation for publishing on Telegram certain documents that, according to him, prove Italy and Libya's collaboration in migrant pushbacks. Many of these documents, however, appear to be of dubious significance and insufficient to prove the existence of illicit agreements between the two governments regarding migrant management.

El Gomati has also published photos of expired passports allegedly belonging to Italian intelligence agents, including one supposedly linked to Caravelli himself. But beyond the leaks, the issue of spyware being used to target journalists and activists—El Gomati among them—remains. The prefect heading AISE (Italy’s foreign intelligence agency) is facing intense days ahead: today at 2:30 PM, he will testify before Copasir (Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic) regarding the Paragon case, but he may also be called to provide explanations on the aftermath of the Almasri case and the handling of the Libyan dossier.

This article is translated by artificial intelligence. If you want to report errors you can write to [email protected]

• 

• Luca Gambardella

• Sono nato a Latina nel 1985. Sangue siciliano. Per dimenticare Littoria sono fuggito a Venezia per giocare a fare il marinaio alla scuola militare "Morosini". Laurea in Scienze internazionali e diplomatiche a Gorizia. Ho vissuto a Damasco per studiare arabo. Nel 2012 sono andato in Egitto e ho iniziato a scrivere di Medio Oriente e immigrazione come freelance. Dal 2014 lavoro al Foglio.