Apropå den senast avslöjade islamistiskacellen i Nord-Italien i lördags.
Vår vän Lorenzo Vidino har precis
publicerat en ny artikel med den
spännande titeln:
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Ett litet smakprov:
"The role of the city of Milan and of one of its
mosques in the spread of Salafism and
jihadism in Italy cannot be overemphasized
and must be analyzed in order to understand
their history in the country.
The Milan area has traditionally been Italy’s
financial engine and, since the 1970s, has
attracted a disproportionately high number
of immigrants from various countries, becoming
the main hub for, among other groups, Egyptian
and Moroccan immigration in Italy.
In 1977, a small group of Middle Eastern and
North African students and immigrants affiliated
with Muslim Brotherhood- linked USMI founded
the Islamic Center of Milan and Lombardy,
which grew progressively more active as
immigration fluxes brought more Muslims
to Milan.
**
By the mid-1980s several members of
By the mid-1980s several members of
various Egyptian jihadist groups had also
made their way to Milan, either receiving
asylum or living illegally in the Italian city.
Soon the men, mostly members of the
Gamaa Islamiya, the notorious Egyptian
terrorist organization that has killed hundreds
of Egyptians and Westerners in its attempt to
overthrow the country’s secular government,
became increasingly dissatisfied with the strain
of Islam that was preached inside the Islamic
Center. In 1988, with the financial support of a
wealthy Milan-based Eritrean Muslim businessman,
Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, the Egyptians broke with
the Islamic Center and founded their own mosque
inside a former garage on the northern outskirts
of Milan. The mosque, which was incorporated as
the Islamic Cultural Institute (ICI), immediately
became the main headquarters for the European
operations of the Gamaa."
***
