ITALIAN TERROR CELL SENTENCED
On 12/20/2007 An Italian court in Milan convicted 10 defendants of being part of a group that encouraged Jihad and sought to recruit potential suicide bombers and sending recruits to Afghanistan and Iraq. They were sentenced ranging from 2 to 10 years in prison.
Most of the defendants were arrested in Milan on 10/02/2006 and were members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat – (GSPC). The case is an extension of the Milan 03 Cell investigation and an outcome of the arrest and interrogation of Djamel Lounici in 04/2004, in Venice, on similar charges.
One of the defendants was the Islamic cleric who preaches at the Viale Jenner mosque in Milan – Abu Imad, in which Mustafa Hassan Nasr , who was kidnapped by the CIA, on 01/16/2003, used to pray.
Abu Imad was handed one of the more lenient sentences – three years and eight months – after prosecutors said he posed no current security threat and he is allowed to remain free pending an appeal against the verdict.
Although Abu Imad was, once, an Al Qaeda supporter he left the group already in 1999, years prior to The 9/11.
* After his release from Benevento jail, in late 05/2010, Abu Imad was sent back to Egypt and is now (2013) trying to get into politics there. He said he wants to “help” Italian Muslims because the institutions don’t let them have decent places to pray and is denouncing his arrest and bad treatment.
**************
Read more ;
