SPILLO/ Almasri, Cecilia Sala and the Hamas hostages
The case of Usama Al-Masry's release is once again making headlines. And the case of journalist Cecilia Sala cannot be forgotten.
The Meloni government – almost no one seems to want to remember it today – had an exceptional defender in the aftermath of Usama Almasri's release: the journalist Cecilia Sala, who had herself been freed a few days earlier from Iranian prisons, following a lightning-fast negotiation personally conducted by the Prime Minister.
The Italian security plane that brought the Libyan general home was more than virtually the same one that had returned Sala to his family, after a fortunately very brief detention in Evin prison. The same plane is now being considered—in the first case—the corpus of the crime of embezzlement, according to the magistrates who requested the trial of three members of the government, after investigating the prime minister herself. No judicial action was taken in the almost simultaneous Sala affair, which was also resolved with a specific exchange: the one that brought Mohammad Abedini Najafabadi, a military engineer, back to Tehran.
In the very tense days of last New Year's Eve, a political-media trial against the Prime Minister had already begun: she was condemned regardless of the fact that she left an Italian (Western) woman journalist (a collaborator of Mario Calabresi's Chora Media but also of Giuliano Ferrara's Foglio ) in the hands of an "Islamic regime".
Meloni's trial continued even after Sala reunited with her boyfriend (a journalist) live on air at Ciampino: the photo opportunity had been tainted by the personal agreement between Meloni and US President-elect Donald Trump, brokered by Elon Musk.
Sala herself, however, showed no hesitation when speaking on the TV lounge, a temple of the politically correct left, specifically about the Almasri case: "I believe that behind Almasri's release," she told Fabio Fazio, "is a security issue. The safety of Italians comes before everything else. It's not just a security issue on the migrant front, but more simply for the Italians who live and work in Libya."
Italian magistrates evidently think radically differently: with a final, double-edged sword, ostentatiously dismissing the alleged crimes against the prime minister alone. In essence, even on the geopolitical front—during a global war—Italy's decisions would be up to the judiciary, not the democratic sovereignty of the legislative and executive branches.
In recent hours, the media has been flooded with horrific images of an Israeli hostage still held by Hamas after nearly two years. The video is interspersed with the grim face of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, now determined to free the hostage "by force." Instead of asking the Trump administration to facilitate a deal, the Israeli government is resisting all international pressure and continuing the "genocidal" destruction of Gaza.
For two years now, the Israeli government has been using its military and security apparatus to kill (including Israeli citizens held hostage by Islamic terrorism). It seems that Italian magistrates are on its side. Which is clearly not the side of "their" boss at the CSM, President Sergio Mattarella, former Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for intelligence services during the NATO operation against Serbia.
Mattarella – who had publicly welcomed Sala's release – in recent days challenged the wrath of his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog by calling for a suspension of hostilities in Gaza on both sides (and thus also the unconditional release of the hostages by Hamas).
This discussion is getting too long. Or maybe not.
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