The Italian Senate is set to ratify a bilateral agreement with Libya on the exchange of prisoners serving life sentences on September 10, 2025, according to Senator Marco Scurria, head of the parliamentary group Friends of Libya.
The agreement, originally signed between the Italian government and Libya’s Government of National Unity on September 29, 2023, is expected to mark a turning point in judicial cooperation between the two countries. Senator Scurria stressed that the ratification is “of vital importance to the Libyan people.”
Libyan Footballers in Italian Prisons
Scurria highlighted the high-profile case of four Libyan footballers imprisoned in Italy since 2015: Alaa Faraj Al-Maghrabi of Al-Ahly Benghazi, Abdulrahman Abdulmonsef, Tariq Jumaa Al-Amami, and Mohamed Al-Sayyed from Tripoli.
The players were convicted on charges of human trafficking, a ruling upheld by Italy’s Court of Cassation. In 2020, Libya’s Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, proposed a prisoner swap involving the four athletes and 18 Italian fishermen detained in Benghazi for alleged illegal fishing in Libyan waters.
Families Await Justice
Italian news agency Nova reported that the mother of Alaa Faraj recently traveled to Palermo, where her son has been held in the Ucciardone prison for more than ten years, underscoring the human dimension behind the political and legal negotiations.
Observers say the ratification of this agreement could pave the way for further judicial cooperation and serve as a test case for Italy-Libya relations amid ongoing regional challenges.
