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February 12, 2007
Italy: Muslim Leaders Investigated For Inciting Racial Hatred
AKI reports that two senior figures from Italy's largest Muslim association are going to be questioned by prosecutors on Wednesday.
They belong to the group UCOII, the Community of Islamic Organizations in Italy, which was founded in 1990. Prosecutors in Rome are investigating Nour Dachan, the leader of UCOII, and Hamza Piccardo, the group's spokesman, over claims that they incited racial hatred.
Last August they placed an advertisement in a newspaper, following the Israeli/Lebanese conflict. In the ad, the actions of Israel against Lebanon, and also against Palestinians, were compared to those of Nazis in World War II.
UCOII is linked to the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Chiesa and has links to 240 mosques in the country. It is said to represent 800,000 Muslims in Italy, out of a total Muslim population of 1.1 million, and thus is the largest Muslim body in Italy.
In March last year, UCOII president Nour Dachan suggested that the government, instead of allowing Catholic religious instruction should: "institute in the schools an hour of Islamic religious instruction as an alternative to an hour of [Catholic] religious instruction."
Additionally in March 2006, Dachan (pictured) refused to sign a document which denounced terrorism and pledged allegiance to Italy's constitution. The document was presented to the Consulta Islamica, a group formed in the previous month by the government, comprising 16 Muslim representatives. The petition had been put forward by Souad Sbai, president of the Confederation of Italian Moroccans who was also part of the Consulta Islamica's board. Only 9 members signed the petition and 7 refused outright.
On February 24, 2006, Nour Dachan claimed that Christians in Muslim countries get better treatment than do Muslims in Christian countries - an obvious misinterpretation of truth. Muslims are allowed to practice their faith in Christian countries, while Christians in Saudi Arabia are banned outright from having crucifixes, Bibles, or holding services.
Nour Dachan is Syrian, and appears to support an anti-semitic agenda. A copy of the Koran was first produced by UCOII in 1994, in which Islamist and antisemitic commentaries are made, states the Stephen Roth Report.
Dachan is imam at the mosque in Ancona, northern Italy.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 12, 2007 4:43 PM
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