Imam of Varese mosque arrested PDF Stampa E-mail

ImageVarese. Italian police have arrested the imam of a mosque in northern Italy after Moroccan authorities issued a request for his extradition on terrorism charges.

Special agents picked up Abdelmajid Zergout, the imam of the Varese mosque, at his home in the Lombardy town of Malnate on Saturday. The Moroccan national, also known as Abou Al Bara', was arrested by Italian police three years ago on charges of belonging to an Italian cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group but was acquitted by a Milan court last year after two years in jail.

The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group is thought to be behind the 2003 Casablanca terrorist attack, in which 12 suicide bombers detonated devices in different areas of the city, killing 33 people and injuring over 100.

Zergout, 43, avoided expulsion from Italy following his acquittal on humanitarian grounds after claiming he would be tortured in his home country as a ''peaceful'' opponent of the Moroccan regime.

Milan magistrates now have 40 days to decide whether to comply with the extradition request issued by the Rabat appeals court on July 31. Zergout, who is married with children, is wanted in his home country on a variety of charges including criminal association and financing terrorist attacks. His lawyer, Luca Bauccio, said he would fight the extradition request and described his client's arrest as ''the umpteenth demonstration of how it's possible to trump up charges for political reasons''. Police said they also seized a laptop computer and material in Arabic from Zergout's house on Saturday.

 
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