Twitter removes rape video posted by Italy’s far-right PM hopeful

Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni condemned for posting the “chilling” tweet

Giorgia Meloni is the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party. (AP)

Twitter has removed a video showing a Ukrainian woman being raped after it was shared online by a far-right politician who is running to be Italy’s first female prime minister.

Authorities in the north Italian city of Piacenza said a 27-year-old man, an asylum seeker from Guinea, had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

Investigations into the crime are ongoing, they added.

Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the poll-leading Brothers of Italy party, tweeted a blurred video of the attack on Sunday, calling it an “atrocious episode of sexual violence”.

"A hug for this woman. I will do everything possible to restore security to our cities,” Ms Meloni wrote in her tweet, appearing to use the clip to drum up support for her anti-immigration campaign.

The post was removed on Tuesday morning after it was found to have violated Twitter’s rules.

Ms Meloni’s opponents condemned her for circulating the tweet.

"(Seeing) a woman, candidate to run the country, using this media, is chilling," former education minister Lucia Azzolina said.

Meanwhile, Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Action party, said the prime ministerial favourite “has done something not worthy of a civilised country, and against women".

Italian prosecutors have said they are investigating how the clip - first published on a news site - came to be released.

"The dissemination in the media of videos depicting the criminal episode is being thoroughly investigated," Piacenza prosecutor Grazia Pradella said.

The state’s personal data watchdog said it was examining whether people had broken the law by posting it online.

The controversy comes ahead of elections on 25 September, which right-wing politicians are expected to win.