Italy to deport Egyptian imam over comments at pro-Palestine rally

An Egyptian imam is facing deportation from Italy for comments he made at a pro-Palestine rally in Turin on 9 October.

Mohamed Shahin, formerly an imam at Turin's San Salvario mosque, allegedly described the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October - which caused the deaths of 1,200 people - as an act of “resistance after years of occupation”. 

The 46-year-old, who has been resident in Italy for 21 years, was arrested in a dawn raid by counter-terrorism police on 24 November after the Ministry of Interior issued an expulsion order and revoked his residence permit.

He is currently being held at a repatriation centre in Caltanissetta, Sicily, pending a decision on an asylum claim.

Shahin told a judge at the Turin Court of Appeal that his expulsion to Egypt would put him at risk of torture and even death, as he is a known critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

He said in court: “I’m not a supporter of Hamas, and I don’t encourage violence. What I've always said is that the Palestinian people must have their own sovereignty."

Shahin’s lawyers have warned that "any repatriation would mean certain death". 

Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that Turin’s prosecutor's office had found no evidence that Shahin’s comments had violated the penal code, nor that they constituted incitement to commit a crime.

Ismaele La Vardera, a member of the Sicilian regional assembly, said after visiting Shahin that there would be “no escape” for him should he enter Egypt.

While he“expressed doubts” about Shahin’s comments, he said his deportation order is “absolutely disproportionate, unworthy of a democratic country”.

Around 180 academics issued an open letter calling for Shahin’s release.

Meanwhile a network of Turin’s religious leaders wrote to Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi expressing “shock and concern” at Shahin's imminent deportation, saying that he was “a key figure in interfaith dialogue and with institutions” and that his expulsion would “jeopardise years of fruitful, peaceful coexistence”.

A nation-wide strike called by Unione Sindacale di Base (USB Union) on Friday saw demonstrators holding signs calling for Shahin’s release.

The strike, which was attended by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, fused pay demands with opposition to what organisers described as the Italian government's complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza.