Dispatch from the Italian Front
A quote from ANSAmed, 21 August 2007
Unknown people have set fire to Islamic butcher Bismi Allah in Chiari, in the province of Brescia, which specialised in the sale of meat prepared according to Muslim tradition. The episode follows several attacks which, lately, hit places of worship and offices of Islamic associations in Lombardy region. […] The owner of the butcher’s, Bouchta Fixih, is on holiday in Morocco in his hometown. No claims of responsibility were made for the attacks.
A quote from ANSAmed, 1 August 2007
The number of Islamic places of worship in Italy continues to grow: their number grew from 696 at the end of 2006 to 735 in May this year. The Islamic places of worship numbered 351 in 2000, […] According to Italian intelligence, the places of worship […] are mostly related to the Maghreb community, which according to the report “reveals internal conflicts between the moderate and the radical wings and registers isolated fundamentalist presences […]”.
A quote from ANSAmed, 11 July 2007
There is more fear and distrust in Italian cities about immigrants identified as ‘Arab’, or those coming from Islamic cultures. With the drop of opinions in favour for granting these immigrants the right to vote in local elections, a strong rise in opposition to the construction of mosques, and a progressive decline of those who see favourably the formation of mixed couples. These are the results of a study carried out by the Milan Chamber of Commerce in Milan, Bologna, Rome, Naples and Palermo.
A quote from the Corriere della Sera, 13 July 2007
The grey, reinforced concrete wall is two and a half metres high and 800 metres long. At night, it will be lit by powerful floodlights. […] The development will house 250 people, doubling the local population, and no one will be able to get into this latter-day fortified citadel without showing identification. […] This residential complex is currently under construction in the Borgo Ronche district of Fontanafredda, a municipality with 10,000 inhabitants five kilometres from Pordenone. It’s a secure, walled complex because here in north-east Italy, people don’t feel safe any more. “It’s the foreigners’ fault”, they say. […] Alpea Sas, the company that is building the walled village […] is owned by Antonia Zanussi, granddaughter of Lino, the founder of Electrolux, and she is married to Gianfranco Zoppas. Zanussi and Zoppas are Pordenone’s two most influential families.
A quote from ANSAmed, 4 July 2007
Dounia Ettaib, vice-president of the Association of Moroccan Women in Italy […] who was threatened in Milan in the past few days for her commitment towards the self-determination of Muslim women, […] underlined the seriousness of the risky battle she is fighting: whoever attacked her, last Friday near the mosque in Viale Jenner, threatened her by telling her “not to defend prostitutes”. This sentence inflicted “a deep wound – Dounia explained – because it shows how many people have still not understood our work. I do not defend prostitutes but women who want to be free”. Dounia […] was attacked by two countrymen for having demonstrated before the Palace of Justice in Brescia with a sign “I am Hina”, in the name of the Pakistani girl killed by her father because accused of failing to follow Islamic rules.
A quote from AKI, 21 August 2007
Italy’s Foreign Ministry has instructed the country’s embassy in Cairo to monitor closely the plight of an Egyptian man, Mohammed Hegazi, who has received death threats following his conversion from Islam to Christianity. Hegazi, a journalist and political activist, is in hiding together with his wife Katarina, who is four months pregnant. Hegazi's case “would not be taken lightly”, Italian deputy foreign minister Ugo Intini [said]. […] Last year Italy granted political asylum to an Afghan man, Abdul Rahman, who converted to Christianity and who could have been executed in Afghanistan for renouncing Islam.
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