Jailed imam charged with terrorist propaganda in Italy

A jailed Muslim preacher who led Friday prayers in an Italian prison has been hit with new charges of spreading terrorist propaganda, police said Thursday.

The Moroccan national has been charged with incitement to commit acts of terrorism and crimes motivated by racial, ethnic and religious hatred, Italy's Carabinieri said.

Preaching in a prison in Alessandria in north-west Italy while himself an inmate between July 2020 and March 2021, he would urge prisoners to wage "armed jihad against the infidels," a statement said.


The imam also used to celebrate al-Qaeda and its late leader Osama bin Laden, railed against Jews, called for the Vatican to be destroyed, and praised several terrorist attacks, it said.

The accused is now detained in a different prison, Italian police said.

Police did not disclose why he was first incarcerated.