The Italian interior minister has said that the threat of terrorism remains a reality in Italy, and vowed to take a close look at who is financing Italy’s several mosques and who is teaching at Islamic schools, in remarks published on Friday in Italy’s leading dailies and confirmed by his office. “The spread of mosques in Italy that are built with money from foreign states is unacceptable,” Amato told reporters. “There’s something about that that I don’t like. I want to know who is financing what in my country.”
“The idea is to at least have foundations so we can have some transparency,” said Amato’s spokesman, Fabrizio Forquet.
In Italy, “mosques are set up by whomever and are financed by such foreign countries as Saudi Arabia,” Forquet added. “So what are these mosques? Are they a religious site or centres for propaganda?”
Hamza Roberto Piccardo, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, an umbrella group for ItalyÂ’s Muslims that has a reputation for radicalism, dismissed the idea. |