After his controversial attendance in two official meetings in Italy, one of which was at the Italian Coast Guard, the Italian journalist, Francesca Mannocchi interviewed Abdelrahman Milad – A.K.A. Bija – and asked him about his in attendance in those meetings despite being accused by the UN of human trafficking and human rights violations.
Bija said he was ready for investigation by the concerned authorities regarding the accusations, adding that the UN based its accusations against him on social media rumors without hard evidence.
He expressed as well disregard for all Italian reports about his participation at the meetings in Italy, saying Libyan and Italian Coast Guards have great bilateral relations.
“I received an invitation for the visit to Italy from IOM. Ae didn’t go to Italy only, we went to Tunisia and Spain as well. I did the visa interview at the Italian embassy in Tripoli. Everyone knew I was going to Italy.” Bija said.
A UN security report published in June 2017 described Bija as a bloodthirsty human trafficker responsible for shootings at sea and suspected of drowning dozens of people. He is considered to be the leader of a criminal organisation operating in the Zawyah area in north-west Libya, about 28 miles west of Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Italian police said it is now taking measures to protect two Italian journalists Nello Scavo and Nancy Porsia after they reported receiving threats from Libyan national Bija after they had published a report on him attending a meeting in Italy on illegal immigration, knowing that he is a human trafficker himself.
Italian Open online website said the two journalists are now under guard after Bija’s threats to sue them over their reports that he was not an official to be part of illegal immigration negotiations but rather he was a human trafficker.
Italian journalist, Nancy Porsia said she received a threat letter from Bija that included details about her life. Meanwhile, Italian journalists’ union and other organizations in Italy expressed solidarity with the two journalists and called on media outlets to resume the investigations that were started by the two journalists.
