The court ruled that Mamour’s statements were not a threat to Italy but just “a piece of his mind.”

ROME, December 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An Italian court has invalidated the “illegal” deportation of a Senegalese imam over statements that merely represented personal views, reported the BBC Sunday, December 12.

The Italian government deported Imam Abdel Qadir Fadlallah Mamour last year “for disturbing public order and being a danger to state security.”

He had anticipated in media interviews attacks against Rome if Italian troops serving with the US-led occupation forces did not leave Iraq.

Mamour had expected an attack on the 3,000-strong Italian troops in  Iraq before their base in southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah came under fire, leaving 12 Italian soldiers dead.

However, Lazio Regional Administrative Court ruled that the imam’s statements were not a threat to Italy but just “a piece of his mind.”

Mamour lived in the small northern Italian town of Carmagnola for 11 years before his deportation.

After the deportation order, the imam accused the Italian government of racism and told the BBC he was victimized for being an African.

He shrugged off allegations of supporting or inciting violence.

“People know I do not have the courage to kill a rat, how can I kill human beings, am not a terrorist,” he told the BBC's Focus on Africa program.

Defiant

Mamour’s lawyer Nicola Canestrini said the imam, currently in Senegal, is free to return to Italy with his family, according to the Agenzia Giornalistica Italia.

But he expected the government to resist the verdict.

“The Interior Ministry will surely contact the Cabinet against the court sentence but in the meantime, Mamour is free to return to Italy,” he was quoted as saying.

The government, indeed, seemed adamant on its position, arguing Mamour still poses a threat to national security.

“I respect the ruling of the Regional Tribunal of Lazio, but the government and I won't change our position concerning the threat posed to our community by the presence of the Carmagnola Imam,” Agenzia Giornalistica Italia quoted Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu as saying.

The 39-year-old imam himself did not signal readiness to come back.

He was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying that he had no plans to return to the country.

On September 27, the Italian interior minister threatened that Italy would not permit mosques “to transform into centers of secret financing and recruitment of Islamist fighters.”

The issue of imams training has recently taken central stage in several European countries.

Major Swiss Christian groups  put forward a proposal to establish a government-supervised institute to educate imams on the “liberal” lifestyle in western societies, with Muslim activists in the country divided on the issue.

Releasing a 20-point strategy  to step up the Muslim integration into society, German integration minister Marieluise Beck said Tuesday, November 23, imams coming to Germany should have a knowledge of the German language and society.

France threatened last year to expel "radical imams" and to close mosques preaching “Islamic fundamentalism.”