Libyan Football Federation President Abdel Hakim Al-Shalmani has urged Libyan and Italian authorities to find a solution for the five Libyan athletes imprisoned in Italy on illegal immigration charges.
The call was made during the ceremony where Al-Nasr F.C. was crowned Libyan Premier League champions in Rome on Tuesday.
Al-Shalmani emphasised the need to either release the athletes or allow them to serve their sentences in Libya. The appeal was made in the presence of Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani.
Since 2015, the Italian government has detained five Libyan footballers, sentencing them to 30 years in prison.
In April, Libyan football players who sought migration to Italy to pursue their dreams of playing professionally in European stadiums have faced difficult circumstances since landing in Italian jails in 2015.
They were charged with smuggling illegal migrants and human trafficking, including Tarek Jumaa Al-Amami, a former player for Al-Tahadi Club.
An Italian court sentenced the Libyan players to 30 years in prison on December 6, 2015. Alongside Al-Amami, the others included Alaa Faraj Al-Maghrabi from Ahly Benghazi Club, Abdul Rahman Abdul Mansour, and Mohamed Al-Sayyid from Al-Madina Tripoli Club, Mohannad Khashiba, all accused of human trafficking and aiding illegal immigrants to enter Italian territory.
Al-Amami appeared in a short video captured from the Syracuse prison in Sicily, where prison laws allow the Libyan player to make one weekly video call every Friday to see his family in Benghazi. He left the city in August 2015 at the age of 20.
Speaking in the video, Al-Amami stated, “Do I look like a criminal to you? They accuse me of being a murderer and trafficking humans. I am a football player, I have all the documents to prove it. You can talk to the president of the club I played for, Al-Tahadi Benghazi. I have been in prison for 9 years, I just wanted to play football in Germany, I was going to leave Italy to travel there.”
