ITALY: Government considering new use for detention centres in Albania after third failed transfer ― Continued controversy and ICC investigation over deportation of Libyan war crimes suspect ― Refugee rights activists among people targeted in spyware a…

• The government is reportedly investigating the possibility of repurposing its controversial detention centres in Albania into repatriation centres.
• The impacts of the government’s decision to release and deport a Libyan general who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant continue to reverberate several weeks later.
• Mobile phones belonging to refugee rights activists and other critics of the Italian government have been targeted with spyware.

The government is reportedly investigating the possibility of repurposing its controversial detention centres in Albania into repatriation centres. According to ANSA, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and Undersecretary of State Alfredo Mantovano discussed the issue following a cabinet meeting on 7 January. If the possible reclassification of the two centres were to go ahead, rather than housing people who had been picked up in international waters in the Mediterranean (as per the original objective of the Italy-Albania Protocol), they would be used to house people who were already in Italy and who were awaiting expulsion. Asked to comment on the possible transformation of the screening centre in Shëngjin and the detention centre in Gjadër into pre-repatriation detention centres (CPRs), Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani said: “We shall see”. He did not explain how the use of the centres would be compatible with the provisions of the EU Return Directive. Leaving aside potential legal obstacles to the creation of CPRs in Albania, a more pressing issue could be the need to review the Italy-Albania Protocol, a process which may well be complicated by the Albanian government’s apparent opposition to it. “The agreement does not change,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The reported discussion about the possible repurposing of the centres in Albania took place exactly a week after the third failed transfer of people seeking asylum to them. On 31 January, a Rome court refused to validate the detention of 43 people who had passed through the Shëngjin centre on 28 January and had been transferred to the Gjadër centre. As a result of the court’s decision, on 6 February, the people were transferred to the Italian port of Bari where “almost half” of them had appealed against the rejection of their asylum requests by 10 February. Despite the latest court ruling against the transfer of people to the centres, the government appears to be determined to press ahead with the scheme, with the prime minister saying that she was willing to “spend every night” until the end of her term at the centres if necessary. Other politicians urged her to reconsider the whole operation. Complaining that the overall cost had “already exceeded € 1 billion”, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party (PD), Elly Schlein, said that the centres were a “clamorous failure” that “do not and will not work”. “The government’s refusal to comply with European laws and court rulings is leading to an extraordinary waste of taxpayer money,” she added. Elsewhere, Riccardo Magi from the opposition More Europe (+Eu) party described the Rome court’s decision as “confirmation that the detention centres in Albania operate in total illegality” while Green and Left Alliance (AVS) member of the European Parliament, Ilaria Salis, called the Italy-Albania Protocol an “inhumane and reckless political stunt”. “It’s time for Meloni’s government to face reality. This awful and, hopefully, unsuccessful plan is embarrassing Italy on the world stage” she wrote in an op-ed published in EUobserver.

The impacts of the government’s decision to release and deport a Libyan general who is subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant continue to reverberate several weeks after the controversial incident took place. On 5 February, Carlo Nordio told parliament that Osama Almasri Najim, who faces various charges, including murder, rape and torture, linked to his role at the Mitiga Detention Centre in Tripoli, was released from custody on 21 January because errors in the ICC warrant mean that he could not be detained. Describing the ICC warrant as full of “inaccuracies, omissions, discrepancies and contradictory conclusions”, Nordio also criticised the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and “a certain faction of the judiciary” for their respective roles in the incident. Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi said that the decision to deport Najim following his release from custody had been made due to “the high level of danger posed by the individual” and the “need to ensure national security and maintain public order”.

On 10 February, the ICC opened an investigation into the events surrounding the deportation. “The matter of state’s non-compliance with a request of cooperation for arrest and surrender by the court is before the competent chamber,” said an ICC spokesperson. In addition to the ICC’s demand for an explanation into the Italian government’s actions, several of Najim’s alleged victims have filed their own complaints with the ICC. Omer Shatz from the NGO front-LEX, who has filed a complaint on behalf of a South Sudanese refugee called Lam Magok Biel Ruei, has claimed that the deportation was facilitated to “hide the complicity of the Italian State and the EU in the crimes committed in Libya and the Mediterranean against migrants”. “They extradited Almasri because he is their counterpart, he is their partner in a criminal enterprise – stemming migration at all cost – and this is the cost,” he added.

Most recently, following days of criticism of the ICC from government figures, the Ministry of Justice has reportedly “informally requested consultations with the ICC to address the legal and procedural issues surrounding the case, with the aim of preventing similar incidents in the future”.

Mobile phones belonging to refugee rights activists and other critics of the Italian government have been targeted with spyware. On 3 February, the Guardian newspaper reported that Husam El Gomati, a Sweden-based Libyan activist who has reported on links between the Italian government and the Libyan coastguard, had been alerted by WhatsApp that his phone had been affected. WhatsApp said it had discovered in December 2024 that mobile phones belonging to 90 people in more than 20 countries had been hacked by spyware made by Paragon Solutions. Two days after the news about Husam El Gomati was published, it was revealed that the founder of the search and rescue NGO Mediterraneanea Saving Humans, Luca Casarini, had also received the same message. Most recently, the head of the NGO Refugees in Libya, David Yambio, confirmed that his phone had also been targeted but that he was not one of the 90 people who had been contacted by WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Paragon Solutions has reportedly “cut access to its clients in Italy” following the recent revelations. The “clients” in Italy, where at least seven phones have been targeted may include “an intelligence agency and a law enforcement agency”. The prime minister’s office has denied any involvement and asked Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) to look into the matter.

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