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Europe

Italy's former PM claims France, US downed plane in attempt to kill Gaddafi in 1980

2023-09-05

[Jpost] France destroyed the Itavia Airlines Flight 870 passenger plane in an attempt to assassinate Libya’s then-dictator Muammar Gaddafi, former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato claimed in an interview with la Repubblica published Saturday. He further called on French President Emmanuel Macron to stop "hiding the truth." Amato claimed that on June 27, 1980, a French missile caused the crash of Itavia Airlines Flight 870. "A plan had been launched to hit the plane on which Gaddafi was flying,” Amato told the source, which was cited by Ansa. “But the Libyan leader escaped the trap because he was warned by [former Italian prime minister Bettino] Craxi. Now the Elysée can wash away the shame that weighs on Paris.” "After 40 years, the innocent victims of Ustica have not received justice. Why continue to hide the truth? The time has come to shed light on a terrible state secret. Macron could do it. And NATO could do it. "Who knows now, speak: it would have great merits towards the families of the victims and towards history", Amato said in a new call for justice. "The most credible version is that of the responsibility of the French Air Force, with the complicity of the Americans. They wanted to kill Gaddafi, flying on a Mig of his air force. The plan envisaged simulating a NATO exercise, a staging that would have allowed the attack to be passed off as an involuntary accident".

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Europe

Italy: Government approves immigrant expulsion decree

2007-12-28

(ANSA) - Rome, December 28 - The Italian government on Friday approved a decree allowing the expulsion of immigrants on the grounds of public security concerns. The decree will enable local authorities to expel legal immigrants - even from European Union countries like Romania - if they are deemed to pose a threat to society. The new decree also provides for immediate expulsions on the basis of suspicion of terrorism threats. The decree is expected to lead to some 1,200 expulsions, many of them Romanian gypsies (Roma) who have recently topped crime statistics. Officials said the decree would soon be followed by a measure aimed at stopping violence against gays - a provision which threatened to derail an original version of the decree. Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero said the decree would also be followed by a new immigration law to bring illegal immigrants into the open, promote integration and fight immigrant-related crime. He called for a ''comprehensive commitment'' from the government on immigration reform. The new immigration bill, drafted by Ferrero and Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, will be put to parliament next month. Friday's decree is a new version of one issued in November which was set to expire. That first decree came in response to a spate of violent crimes culminating in the murder and suspected sexual assault of a middle-aged naval officer's wife by a Roma. The decree was scrapped amid fears that scores of immigrants expelled under the November decree could soon return with impunity because the measure would not be converted into law by the end of the year. The move, embarrassing for the government, became necessary when President Giorgio Napolitano announced that there were ''erroneous references'' in the bill which was about to go to the House for final approval. The implication was clearly that he might not sign the legislation into law, leaving dozens of recent expulsions without any legal basis. The fresh measure does not contain the provisions regarding discrimination against gays which were slipped into the first decree at the last minute. These provisions, which were the source of a fresh bout of quarrelling in the centre-left coalition, will now be put into a separate draft law. According to Italian media, almost 500 immigrants have been expelled under the first decree.

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Europe

Italy Seizes Quran-printed Toilet Seats

2007-10-29

It's not on the part you sit on! The printing is on the lid, something to read while trying to get the old prostate to let go. Now, if they printed it on the inside of the BOWL ---- where can I order? ROME — Italian Muslims have swiftly acted to stop the sale in local stores of toilet seat covers that feature verses of the Noble Qur'an in an unprecedented blasphemous act, reporting the matter to appropriate authorities and politicians, who proved forthcoming. "I would like to thank Italian authorities who responded positively to our complaints against this profanity," Samir Al-Khalidi, the head of the Islamic Centre (Al-Huda) in Rome, told IslamOnlin.net Saturday, October 27. "We reacted astutely to this provocation and threw the ball in the court of security officials and politicians, demanding them to seize the products immediately to head off angry Muslim reaction," he added. The Lazio-based Orizzonte Company unveiled this month a new collection of bathroom products including the offensive toilet cover seats. They feature verses from the Noble Qur'an printed on the double face of the cover seats and intersected by colorful flowers and Latin words. Following Muslim complaints, police raided the four braches of the company in the town of Latina, 60km south of Rome, and seized 2,000 such pieces on sale. Interior minister Giuliano Amato met Friday with Italian Muslim leaders at the main Rome Mosque to reassure them that Italy would not tolerate such outrageous acts. "This is an insult to the Muslim faith," The imam of the Lazio town of Latina's mosque, Sheikh Yusuf, told Amato. Amato reassured Yusuf, saying: "I would like to tell our friends from Latina that we have been informed of this matter and are taking action because it is offensive." Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.

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Europe

Italy: Interior Minister to present 'charter of values' to Muslims

2007-10-24

Rome, 24 Oct. (AKI) – Italy's interior minister Giuliano Amato will visit Rome's mosque on Friday to present to Muslims a 'Charter of Values for Citizenship and Integration'. “It is the first public presentation of this important document," the director of Italy's Islamic Cultural Centre, Abdullah Redouane, said in a statement. "Developed in consultation with various religious and civil society representatives, it establishes the principles for the harmonious integration in Italian society of non-Catholic communities." Amato, Redouane, and the Rome mosque's imam Alaa Din al-Goobashi will be among those attending Friday's presentation of the charter. The document, which has symbolic rather than legal value, is aimed at immigrants belonging to Muslim and other faiths. The government plans to distribute it in immigrants' centres, schools, and places of worship in Italy. Italian authorities are also considering making the charter available in Italian embassies and consulates abroad, as well as in Italian offices that issue immigrants with permits of stay, residency and visas. The charter was prepared by an interior ministry committee of experts following consultations with members of the Muslim, Protestant, Romanian and Russian Orthodox communities in Italy, the ItalianBishops Conference (CEI), immigrant groups and charities that assist immigrants. The idea of a charter outlining common values to be subscribed by Muslims was first launched by Amato in August 2006. It came after Italy's largest Muslim group, the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII) published an advertisement in several newspapers likening Israel's actions in the July War against Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories to Nazi atrocities during World War II. At the suggestion of Muslim groups, the charter's scope was subsequently broadened to include other immigrant communities in Italy. Interesting. Has anyone seen an English-language copy of this charter?

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Europe

Italy: Tunisian deportee to face 20 year jail term, rights group says

2007-09-29

(AKI) - A Tunisian citizen facing deportation from Italy after being cleared of terrorism charges would face 20 years in prison if sent home, a human rights organisation has claimed. Campaign group Human Rights Watch has attacked the Italian government saying Tunisian citizen Nassim Saadi would face the lengthy jail sentence because he was convicted in absentia in Tunisia for incitement to terrorism. If he's a terrorist, a 20 year sentence sounds a little .. light. And he could have stayed home to fight in court. Sounds like he wants to enjoy la dulce vita whilst spreading jihad. "Instead of sending people back to face ill-treatment, Rome should put pressure on Tunis to stop abusing prisoners," said Julia Hall senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Sending people back to risk ill-treatment undermines fundamental European values." So they don't know for certain that Nassim will get thumped in Tunisia, it's just a 'risk'. Human Rights Watch last week sent a letter to the Italian Minister of Justice Clemente Mastella, in which it expressed concern about the Italian government's reliance on diplomatic assurances from Tunisia to treat Nassim humanely. Nassim, who lives in Milan, was declared not guilty of association with international terrorism in 2005 in Italy, but was convicted of criminal conspiracy and forgery. In Tunisia he was convicted in absentia of being a member of a terrorist organisation operating abroad for incitement to terrorism. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato ordered the "fast-track" deportation of Nassim - a special procedure for terrorism-related cases that denies suspects the right to remain in Italy, while their appeal against deportation is considered. The United Nations committee against torture has harshly criticised Italy's policy for lacking protection against returns to torture. It's easy to criticize Y'urp-peons, they just quiver in response. Nassim had appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming he risks torture if returned to his home country. The court subsequently requested that Italy suspend the deportation until a final judgement in the case is made. The Italian government on the other hand, argued before the court in July 2007 that the Tunisian government promised to treat Saadi humanely, thereby reducing the risk of ill-treatment. Just you wait til Carla del Ponte hears of this ...

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Europe

Italian police hold 3 Moroccan terrorism suspects

2007-07-22

Police in central Italy arrested three Moroccans on Saturday after finding films and Internet downloads at a mosque they believe was used for recruiting and training militants for “terrorist acts” abroad. “We found and put out of service what was a genuine ‘terrorist school’,” said Carlo De Stefano, head of UCIGOS, a branch of the Italian police that specialises in security investigations. Police said they believed the men, one an imam, had used a mosque at Ponte Felcino, near Perugia, as a training camp for international terrorism. Materials seized included instructions on how to fly a Boeing 747. “The investigations documented how the suspects ... were undertaking a laborious and in-depth operation of instruction and training in the use of weapons and combat techniques suitable for terrorist acts,” the police said in a statement. Police said the mosque had been used to recruit “terrorists” to operate abroad, possibly in Iraq. They were seeking a fourth Moroccan. Among the Internet files were instructions on handling poisons, explosives and sending encrypted messages via computer. Police said there were also “instructions aimed at aspiring mujahideen to get safely to conflict zones”. Interior Minister Giuliano Amato congratulated the police and said the possible use of a mosque by militants was a serious concern.

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Europe

Murdering Freedom

2007-07-19

From the desk of Paul Belien Last week, the Italian interior minister, Giuliano Amato, hosted a conference in Rome on “Islam and Integration.” Italy, one of Europe’s southern border states, has 1 million Muslims out of a population of 58 million people. Illegal immigrants arrive in Italy in huge numbers. According to a recent survey, the country could count almost 7 million Muslims by the end of the next decade. The Italians, however, have a way of dealing with illegal immigrants. They regularly transform them into legal residents by granting them official papers. Since 1988 Italy has organized six amnesties for illegal aliens — the last one in 2006, when 500,000 people were given permission to stay. Most of them leave Italy shortly afterward. Since Italy belongs to the European Union and since the EU adheres to the principle of the free movement of persons, an amnesty gives immigrants the right to freely enter all EU member states. Italy allows the immigrants in so that they move out, to EU nations with more generous welfare systems. Mr. Amato, a former prime minister of Italy as well as the former vice president of the EU’s Constitutional Convention, boasts that his country has few problems with Muslims. They are well integrated in Italian society, he told the conference. The Socialist politician downplayed phenomena such as violence toward women by Muslim immigrants. Mr. Amato said wife beating is also customary among indigenous Italians in Sicily — a comment which infuriated Sicilian politicians. One of those attending last week’s conference was the Dutch integration minister, Ella Vogelaar. Like Italy, the Netherlands has a population of about 1 million Muslims (of a total 16.5 million people). Upon her return home, Mrs. Vogelaar gave an interview to Trouw, a Dutch Protestant newspaper. She said that Muslim immigrants must feel appreciated. According to the minister, the Dutch have to help “Islam take root in the Netherlands.” Mrs. Vogelaar, a member of the Dutch Labor Party, told Trouw that the Netherlands, while so far a country of Judeo-Christian traditions, is gradually becoming a “Judeo-Christiano-Islamic” society. She clearly considers this process beneficial, although, she added, it “may still take a couple of centuries” before it is fully achieved. Mrs. Vogelaar is saying nothing new. Every visitor to major West European cities can see that the continent’s urban areas are rapidly turning Islamic — a dramatic process, which, if not stopped, will take only decades, not centuries, to achieve. Mrs. Vogelaar's dishonesty lies in her feigned appreciation for the Judeo-Christian roots of Dutch society, to which she would now add a third religious component. The Dutch Socialists played a prominent role in transforming the Netherlands into a radically secularist society, from which God is absent and where people who are reluctant to perform same-sex “marriages” cannot find jobs in the civil service. The Dutch Labor Party did everything in its power to undermine Judeo-Christian religions, but it is today the vehicle of the most radical Islamization. This has nothing to do with appreciation for yet another religion, but rather with the fact that, like secularism, Islamism is an enemy of Judeo-Christian values. The European left appreciates Islamism not because it is a religion, but because it is a totalitarian political ideology. The Dutch Labor Party is catering to Islamist extremists even to the point of silencing party members like the Muslim apostate Ehsan Jami. The same hypocrisy is displayed by Mr. Amato. He says that Europe will benefit from what religious Muslims can offer. However, Mr. Amato was the vice president of the European Convention, which vetoed any reference to God in the preamble to the EU Constitution. Sadly, there are more politicians like Mr. Amato and Mrs. Vogelaar. Take Patrick Janssens, the Socialist mayor of Antwerp, a city just south of the Dutch border. His administration sacks civil servants who warn about a takeover of Antwerp’s mosques by Islamist groups, and has them replaced by members of these very Islamist groups. Last week, Mr. Janssens welcomed international homosexual activists to Antwerp, which he likes to style the “gay capital of Europe.” Does it make sense to cater simultaneously to radical homosexuals and Islamists? It does not, unless Europe's Christian heritage is your enemy. Meanwhile, a German appeals court convicted a man for calling abortion “murder.” Klaus Günter Annen, a father of two, runs a Web site where he asks people to pray for “doctors planning an abortion murder.” On a separate Web page he lists German gynecologists who perform abortions. Last Thursday, the Oberlandesgericht in Karlsruhe stated that since abortionists do nothing illegal, no one is allowed — not even in an indirect way — to call them murderers. It is often argued that Adolf Hitler was only able to grab power in Germany in 1933 because freedom and democracy were already dead. Soon, the secularist totalitarianism in contemporary Europe will be replaced by an Islamist totalitarianism. The Islamists will not need to kill freedom and democracy. The latter have already been murdered. This piece was originally published in The Washington Times on July 18, 2007 .

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Europe

Non-Imperial Empire Produced Non-Readable Treaty

2007-07-19

From the desk of The Brussels Journal A quote from Giuliano Amato, the Italian Foreign Minister and former Vice President of the European Convention, at a conference in London, 12 July 2007 [audio] They [EU leaders] decided that [the amended constitutional treaty] should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not [the European Constitution, which the voters rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands], that was the sort of perception. [...] In order to make our citizens happy, to produce a document that they will never understand [...] There is some truth [in it]. Because if this is the kind of document that the IGC [intergovernmental conference] will produce, any Prime Minister – imagine the UK Prime Minister – can go to the Commons and say ‘look, you see, it’s absolutely unreadable, it’s the typical Brussels treaty, nothing new, no need for a referendum. More on this topic: Non-Imperial Empire, 11 July 2007 Europe Has Given Up on the People, 27 June 2007 An Air of Celebration in Brussels: Politicians Defeat the People (2), 27 June 2007 Human Rights Are a Weapon Used against the People, 26 June 2007 An Air of Celebration in Brussels: Politicians Defeat the People, 26 June 2007 Back in the EUSSR, 21 June 2007

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Europe

Italy considers tighter control of Muslim funds

2007-01-06

ROME - Italy wants to tighten controls on foreign cash arriving to build mosques and is studying a French proposal to create a state-backed foundation to filter religious funds for Muslims, the interior minister has said. Giuliano Amato told Italian reporters that Rome currently had little control over money coming into the country -- especially from foreign governments -- to help build mosques. He did not name any countries. “I find the spread of mosques with cash from governments of other countries unacceptable ... I want to understand who is financing what in our country,” Amato was quoted as saying in La Stampa newspaper on Friday. Strange attitude for an interior minister, huh? “I am studying, exactly like the French are doing, the hypothesis of creating a foundation that has a national component,” he said. The French fund would be run by a board of Islamic leaders with an Interior Ministry representative. As the article notes elsewhere, that French fund, while announced, isn't yet in operation. How typically Phrench. Amato also said he wanted to make sure teachers in Islamic schools were properly qualified. You mean the state isn't already certifying teachers in Italy? What kind of socialist paradise is this anyway? Italy’s right-wing opposition applauded the move, with outspoken former reforms minister Roberto Calderoli saying Amato should also limit “the numbers and strange activities” of Islamic cultural centres. But Omar Camiletti, a spokesman for the Rome Mosque, one of Europe’s largest, criticised the proposal. He said the government should be looking instead to better integrate Muslims into Italian society, instead of restricting their charities. “I think it (Amato’s concern) is wrong-headed,” Camiletti told Reuters. “You must not hinder charitable assistance from international organisations or from individuals. This is a principle of our open society.” You can do all the charity you like as long as you obey the law. And if any of the money is going to the Widows Ammunition Fund we're going to have to have a talk. Mario Scialoja, of the Italian Muslim League, played down any controversy, saying Amato had “every right” to seek restrictions. “I think they are concerned that funds might be flowing, not so much from governments, but Islamic associations which might be used for unclear purposes. So they are quite right to check,” Scialoja told Reuters, adding his groups would be unaffected. Is that a moderate Muslim I see?

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Europe

Prodi May Send Troops to Quell Naples Violence

2006-11-02

Tony Soprano would be so proud. Seven murders in five days, with three dead within the space of a few hours: an upsurge in violence in Naples has shocked Italy. The Italian prime minister is considering sending in troops to fight organized crime. Naples may be famous for its architecture, art and being the traditional home of pizza. But it also has a less enticing claim to fame: the Camorra, a home-grown version of the Sicilian Mafia, ... actually, AFAIK, they're independent regional organizations, Italy has several of them, La Cosa Nostra, the N'dranghtta, the Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita, plus various albanian criminal clans. ... whose insalubrious business ventures include drugs and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal gambling. Now a bloodier than usual crime wave is forcing the authorities in Rome to try to come up with a long-term solution. A series of armed robberies and murders during the past week has persuaded the Interior Minister Giuliano Amato to send an extra 1,000 police to Naples. The continuing bloodbath has also prompted Prime Minister Romano Prodi to consider sending in troops to quell the violence in and around the city. It's a quagmire! Three people fell victim to violent crime on Tuesday alone. A 36-year-old man was killed in his computer games shop about 13 kilometers north of Naples. A few hours later in Torre del Greco, 17 kilometers south of the city, two known members of a local gang were shot while riding a moped. Since Friday the number of murders has risen to seven, with a number of the deaths thought to be linked to organized crime. On Monday evening a suspected gangster called Vincenzo Presigiacomo was shot in the center of the city as he left a bar. Presigiacomo is believed to be a member of a Camorra clan involved in a turf war with a rival clan. According to police estimates, around four thousand inhabitants of Naples and the surrounding region are members of various Camorra 'families.' Interior Minister Giuliano Amato announced on Tuesday that 1,000 extra police were to be sent to bolster Naples' current force of 13,000 officers, in order to bring the city under control "street by street." In addition, surveillance cameras are to be installed throughout the city starting Nov. 9. Police will also receive more motorbikes so they can move faster through the city's narrow streets and alleys. "We must radically and permanently revisit the way we defend the safety of our citizens," Amato said in a statement. Assuming first that a socialist state would actually defend its citizens ... The authorities are also worried about the effect on tourism in a city that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. Just last month a Canadian was hit by a stray bullet while walking through the city. Even more alarming is the danger of a complete breakdown in law and order, as some locals turn to vigilantism. One recent fatality was a thief shot dead by the owner of a tobacconist that he was trying to rob. That's not a problem, that's part of the solution ... In the fight against Neapolitan organized crime, the government is examining all the options, including sending soldiers into the southern Italian city. Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised concerted action to defeat crime. "This time the fight against crime will not be carried out to soothe public opinion for a few days or a few months, but it will be a permanent fight to bring safety to the citizens," Prodi told reporters Tuesday. However, the regional governor Antonio Bassolino is sceptical of the wisdom of sending in the army, rather than extra police. Soldiers have been used before in the fight against organized crime in Italy. In 1992, troops were deployed in Sicily following the murder of two prominent anti-Mafia prosecutors. The soldiers remained on the island for six years. Quagmire!

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Europe

Two charged with honour killing in Italy

2006-08-17

Italian police were searching yesterday for a man suspected of involvement in the killing of a Pakistani woman after her father and uncle were charged with slitting her throat because she dated an Italian man and refused to conform to an Islamic lifestyle. It does seem that we read these stories over and again ... Investigators believe the third suspect helped the father and uncle kill Hina Saleem, 21. The woman's body was found buried in the family's garden in Sarezzo on Saturday. Her father and uncle were taken into custody on Monday. Investigators said they were looking into the theory that the grave was dug before the woman was killed. It is thought a long kitchen knife was used to slit her throat. The Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that the victim's father had applied for Italian citizenship two months ago. Applicants must convince authorities that they also embrace "fundamental" rights, including the right of a woman "to choose her own life", said the interior minister, Giuliano Amato. Worked well, didn't it. News reports said the victim's family had been insisting on an arranged marriage with a cousin in Pakistan. "Dad, he's ucky! And our children would be deformed! I won't do it!" "Allan forbid you date an Italian! I'm going to talk with your uncle, and you'll be sorry!"

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Europe

Algerian Terror Suspects Arrested

2006-07-21

Vicenza, 21 July (AKI) - Italian police on Friday arrested four Algerian nationals on charges they belonged to a cell of the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat, a militant group based in Algeria which has sworn allegiance to al Qaeda. The arrests took place in a vast anti-terror operation in the northern regions of Veneto and Lombardy and the central city of Reggio Emilia. The alleged terror ring was based in Venice and operated across Italy to finance the group and recruit militants to send to Algeria and Iraq. Ring members are also charged with forging identification papers and residence permits for illegal immigrants. Interior minister Giuliano Amato said the operation was significant as cell members "were ready to reach Algeria and Iraq in an operational role."

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