Italy's government expelled Pakistani Imam Zulfiqar Khan this week after Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called for his expulsion because of his radical Islamist preaching.
Mr. Khan, 54, the imam of Bologna's Jacopo di Paolo Mosque, was arrested on orders from Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, citing concerns about national security and the “increasing ideological fanaticism” shown by Mr. Khan. , was expelled from Italy on Tuesday.
The dismissal order cited Mr. Khan as expressing a fundamentalist vision of jihad, glorifying martyrs, and supporting Hamas terrorists in the Israeli conflict. According to This was reported by Italian state news agency Ansa.
Broadcasting station Radio Television Italiana reported In videos released between November 2023 and April 2024, Zulfiqar Khan accused the United States of supporting “impure Zionists” by supporting Israel in its conflict with Hamas terrorists. , heavily criticized Western countries such as Germany, France, Britain, and Italy.
In one video, the Imam of Bologna was shown calling on Allah to destroy the alleged oppressors of the Palestinian people.
In another sermon, Khan called homosexuality “a disease that must be cured” and said all Muslims have the right to confront homosexuality “to avoid catastrophic consequences such as the very destruction of humanity.” reportedly claimed.
Zulfikar Khan originally entered Italy in 1995 and was a residence permit holder until this week when the Interior Ministry ordered his expulsion.
In June, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini condemned The Islamist preacher denounced “hate speech against Western countries and Jews” and called for their “immediate expulsion from our country.” Salvini celebrates departure from Italy this week said: “Finally sent him home. That's right!”
Mr. Salvini, leader of the populist party Alliance, which forms a coalition with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Italian Brotherhood (FdI), has long been one of the country's main advocates of immigration enforcement.
Salvini is currently on trial in Palermo for his efforts as interior minister to protect Italy's borders from open-border NGOs that act as migrant taxis in the Mediterranean, with prosecutors seeking a six-year prison term against the deputy prime minister. seeking punishment.
Mr Khan's lawyer, Francesco Mullou, argued that the decision to deport his client meant “a return to a police state and the prosecution of opinion crimes.”
The imam claimed he was only “expressing his personal opinion” on the Israeli conflict and that his comments about women and homosexuals were no more inflammatory than those made by Catholics in the country.
