What's that? Jihad? In Italy?

TREVISO ‘SHERIFF’ UNAFRAID OF FATWA

Hat tip ZIP

Security boosted for outspoken Northern League deputy mayor

(ANSA) – Treviso, November 21 – The Northern league deputy mayor of this northeastern Italian city, who was given the nickname ‘The Sheriff’ for his hard line on immigration, said on Friday that he was unafraid of a fatwa which was allegedly issued against him.       

My kind of guy, my kind of town!

”I defend my culture, my religion and civilization without any fear and so is natural that I will make some enemies,” Giancarlo Gentilini told ANSA on Friday.

”The world is full of madman and megalomaniacs and its clear that being a member of the Northern League who is not afraid to say what he thinks could place me in a disagreeable position,” he added. According to the local press, police consider the Islamic ruling against the deputy mayor, who has also served as mayor of Treviso, to be credible and believe it was issued in response to anti-immigrant remarks he made during a recent Northern league rally in Venice.

A fatwa is in itself not a threat but a religious opinion issued by an Islamic scholar. The one regarding Gentilini was said to have been issued several months ago.

Security has already been boosted for Gentilini has been under police protection for over five years ago after sparking controversy with his outspoken views and actions.

Gentilini once removed benches from Treviso’s public parks to prevent immigrants using them and also jokingly suggested that immigrants ”disguised as hares” be used as target practice for hunters.

Aside from his crusade against immigrants, Gentilini also grabbed headlines last year over his call for an ”ethnic cleansing” of homosexuals in Treviso.

Earlier this year he raised eyebrows when he launched a crusade against ”foreign” dogs and called for a return of the traditional farm dogs who used to follow their masters to the fields and were part of Treviso’s ancestry.

Dog experts brushed off his call saying there was no such thing as a pure, indigenous canine breed of the kind he was referring to.

Italy: Police raids target suspected jihadist group

“Justice and Charity.” Oh, and also a caliphate. “Italy: Police anti-terror raids target suspected Islamists,” from Adnkronos International, via JW

Trieste, 18 Nov. (AKI) – Italian anti-terrorism police have carried out at least 135 raids and are investigating 11 foreigners in various Italian regions who are suspected of links to an alleged Morocco-based Islamist group. The organisation, called ‘Al-Adl Wal Ihsan’ or Justice and Charity, is being investigated for association to commit international terrorist acts.

Several apartments and cultural centres thought to be linked to the Moroccan movement are being investigated as well as 11 foreigners.

According to investigators, the ‘Justice and Charity’ movement is a front for a group seeking the restoration of an Islamic caliphate in Morocco and the abolition of the monarchy.

Justice and Charity is believed to be Morocco’s largest opposition Islamist movement. However, the group claims it wants to transform Moroccan society through non-violent means and social work.

And there’s no better place to transform Moroccan society than… Italy?

Justice and Charity is tolerated by the Moroccan government but reportedly has no legal status to organise meetings.

The group has repeatedly accused the government of imprisoning its members and limiting its funding resources.

The anti-terrorism investigations are taking place in the regions of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Lombardy, Veneto in northern Italy and in the central Emilia Romagna and Marche region.