Italy must explain the reasons for the release of Libyan General Njeem Osama Almasri Habish, which occurred "without warning or consultation".

The International Criminal Court is on the offensive after seeing the surrender of a man it wanted to arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity fall through. All the opposition parties are also on the warpath, accusing the government of having freed "a torturer".

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi will report on the case to Parliament next week.

Another controversial arrest, therefore, for Italy, just over a month after that of the Iranian Mohammed Abedini Najafabadi. The outcome was similar: release and repatriation. In this last case, however, there was no formal intervention by the government, but it was the Court of Appeal of Rome that found irregularities in the arrest and ordered the release.

Like Abedini, Njeem is not a second-rate pawn of the Libyan institutions. He is the head of the Judicial Police and operates under the direct functional dependencies of the judiciary and of the national Attorney General, Sadiq Al-Sur, who is delegated the investigation of many crimes, usually serious, committed in the country. He works with the Deterrence Apparatus for the fight against terrorism and organized crime (Rada) which, among other things, manages the Mittiga prison, where hundreds of criminals and terrorists are still locked up. A prominent figure, therefore, of a government with which Italy has consolidated relations on various dossiers, from migratory flows to oil, to gas.

The Hague Court last Saturday, by majority vote, issued - following the request made last October 2 by the organization's prosecutor - an arrest warrant for the Libyan general for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the prison of Mittiga, near Tripoli, since February 2011. Njeem was located in Turin on January 19 and arrested.

"The suspect - the Court said - was held in custody pending the completion of the procedures necessary for his surrender. At the request of and in full respect of the Italian authorities, the Court has deliberately refrained from commenting publicly on the arrest. On 21 January, without prior notice or consultation with the Court, Almasri was reportedly released and returned to Libya. The Court is seeking, and has not yet received, verification from the authorities of the steps taken". It is the duty of all States, the judges in The Hague warn, "to cooperate fully with the Court in its investigations and prosecutions for crimes".