The flare-up of tensions in the Middle East after 7 October 2023 it raised the terrorism alarm again in Italy and Europe. An alarm, however, that has never died down and keeps the intelligence agencies on their toes in an attempt to intercept any security threat. While the threshold of attention on the arrivals of illegal immigrants is raised, to prevent possible radicalized subjects may enter Europe for dangerous purposes, greater checks and interventions are also carried out on individuals already present in the territory.
Among the almost 1800 repatriations carried out since the beginning of the year, the Interior Minister explained a few days ago, Matteo Piantedosi“were performed 77 expulsion orders for reasons of national security, for risk of radicalization or extremism and that since the beginning of the current year 34 expulsions have already been carried out for precisely the same reasons“. And it is precisely in this context that the parliamentary questions, one in the Chamber and one in the Senate, by the Honorable Sarah Kelanyhead of the immigration department of Fratelli d’Italia, and Marco Lisei, senator of the same party, focused on the figure of the imother from BolognaZulfiqar Khan.
The parliamentarians turned to the owner of the Interior Ministry informing him of the past of the individual, of Pakistani origin, known for some time for his anti-Semitic positions, anti-Israeli, anti-American and hostile towards European countries. He also got noticed for the “support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, pronounced publicly, in particular during the sermons broadcast on the Facebook page of the Iqraa Islamic center and visible to all“. In their question, Kelany and Lisei also report some examples to better explain who the imam of Bologna is and highlighting the danger of his work in our country for national security.
On February 23, 2024, in fact, Khan in his sermon railed against those who side with America and Israel, who “it will end badly“. And again, on 12 April of this year, addressing the faithful, he declared: “Perpetrate jihad against these liars, these murderers“. It’s still: “Fight against those who begin to fight against you“. On 19 April 2024, the same man, in a new video published on social media, called for “that punishment that we are waiting for that comes from Allah, with theand hands of Hamas and Hezbollah“. And he declared, with pride, that “if someone says to me ‘you are Islamic extremist‘I say yes because extremism means following the fundamentals“. And just a few days ago, the FdI representatives continue in their questioning, the imam “defines homosexuals as ‘a group that Allah will punish with a very strong punishment’“.
And these, they explain, are only part of the declarations that the imam made publicly in his sermons, in Bologna as well as in other Islamic meeting centers in the country. “He has published images of several times on his social networks armed mujahideen and with their faces covered, portrayed in prayer or in the act of aiming weapons at civilian targets“, continue Kelany and Lisei, who conclude the question by asking “whether the Minister is aware of the above and has taken or intends to take action in this regard“.
It is necessary, the two parliamentarians still say, “ensure safety monitoring those who, in places of aggregation or on the web, propagate extremist ideas or those aimed at encouraging violence and terrorism, possibly taking measures to remove them from the national territory“.
