|
Italy Warns Preacher Over "Bin Laden is Innocent" Statement
ROME, Oct 18 (News Agencies) - Italy's top security minister has issued a public warning to a young Muslim preacher who told demonstrators that suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden was "innocent" and did not mastermind the September 11th attacks in the United States.
Civil Service Minister Franco Frattini, who has overall responsibility for the security services, told the
La Stampa newspaper that the statement by Bouriki Bouchta, a Moroccan-born imam, or Islamic preacher, was "unacceptable" and could possibly give rise to legal action.
Bouchta, who preaches at a mosque in the Porta Palazzo neighborhood of Turin, told participants at a small demonstration in the city that "Bin Laden is innocent of what happened in the United States."
"Bin Laden is a Muslim who would not allow himself to kill," he said.
"The United States has not provided any proof, but only suspicions" concerning bin Laden's responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he said.
Frattini said the Italian government believed that "judges should act to weigh the seriousness of the Turin preacher's statements."
The imam's words "ring like statements in tune with bin Laden's thinking," he said, noting that the Saudi-born dissident had appeared in a recent video thanking God for having smitten the United States on September 11th.
"I am against taking legal action on the basis of people's opinions, but I find the Turin preacher's statements unacceptable and dangerous," he told the paper, adding that he was, however, not in favor of expelling Bouchta to his native Morocco.
The imam's statement sparked widespread condemnation in Italy, and divided the country's Muslim population, estimated to number between 800,000 and a million.
Bouchta, himself, later sought to dampen the controversy, stating during a public debate in Turin on Wednesday that he had been "misunderstood".
If it could be shown that bin Laden had in fact been behind the attacks, "that would mean that he wasn't a real Muslim," the imam said, according to the
La Repubblica daily.
An investigation carried out by La Repubblica showed that other Muslim preachers in Italy had defended bin Laden, although others criticized him.
|
