Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy announced on Tuesday that she was being investigated by Italian prosecutors for her alleged role in aiding and abetting the release last week of a Libyan official wanted on war crimes charges.
The case focused on Italy’s arrest and quick release of Osama Elmasry Njeem, the director of several Libyan prisons known for their inhumane conditions.
Last week, the Italian police arrested Mr. Njeem in a Turin hotel room after the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an international warrant. Mr. Njeem was wanted in connection with crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence.
Shortly after he was arrested, Mr. Njeem was released for what the Italian authorities called a procedural issue. He was then taken back to Libya on a government plane.
His release set off an outcry by human rights groups and opposition leaders, who accused Ms. Meloni of cozying up to the Libyan authorities because Italy relied on Libya to keep migrants from Italian shores.
The International Criminal Court also objected, issuing a statement recalling “the duty of all States Parties to cooperate fully with the Court in its investigations and prosecutions of crimes.” It said it had asked the Italian authorities to clarify their actions.
Ms. Meloni said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday that Mr. Njeem had been released because the I.C.C.’s arrest warrant had not been transmitted to the Italian justice ministry, making the arrest invalid.
Ms. Meloni said that Mr. Njeem had then been expelled and taken back to Libya because of security reasons.
“I cannot be blackmailed,” she said. “I will not let myself be intimidated.”
Ms. Meloni said Rome’s chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, was also investigating Italy’s justice minister, Carlo Nordio; Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi; and the interior under secretary, Alfredo Mantovano.
In the video, Ms. Meloni said that it was “curious” that the I.C.C., “after months of reflection,” issued the arrest warrant right when Mr. Njeem was about to enter the Italian territory, after having spent about 12 days in three other European countries. It was unclear what she was hinting at.
News of the investigation of Ms. Meloni caught Italian lawmakers by surprise, with moments of tension in the lower house.
The case was likely to rekindle an ongoing dispute between the judiciary and Ms. Meloni, who, like many conservative politicians in Italy, has accused Italian judges of overreaching to pursue political agendas.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini pointed out in a post on X that Mr. Lo Voi was the same prosecutor who had taken him to court in Palermo, Sicily, on charges that Mr. Salvini had illegally refused to allow a boat carrying migrants to dock in Italy five years ago.
Mr. Salvini was acquitted of the charges in December. “Shame, shame, shame,” he wrote on the social media platform. “Justice reform immediately.”
Even some of Ms. Meloni’s critics were surprised by the investigation into the prime minister.
The handling of Mr. Njeem’s case was “a disaster, telling Italians a bunch of lies,” said Carlo Calenda, the leader of Azione, a centrist party. But investigating the prime minister “was surreal and wouldn’t happen in any other Western country,” Mr. Calenda told the news agency ANSA.
Giovanni Barbero of the Refounded Communist Party said, however, that it was only right for judges to investigate what had transpired because “too many gray areas” surrounded the case. No one was above the law, he told Italian news media.