Rome - Being included in the United Nations' or European
Union's terrorism blacklists does not in itself constitute legal
proof that a defendant is indeed a terrorist as such lists are
'politically motivated', judges in Italy ruled, reports said Tuesday.
The contentious explanation accompanied a ruling by prosecutors in
Milan, who dismissed terrorism charges brought against an Egyptian
and an Eritrean suspect, the daily Corriere della Sera reported.
Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, two bankers linked to the
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, had been accused by police in Italy and
Switzerland of funding terrorist activities on the basis of EU and UN
blacklists compiled after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the
United States.
In dropping the charges brought against them, prosecutors in Milan
also noted that the investigation had not yielded sufficient solid
evidence to prove that they had indeed given money to terrorist
groups.
In 2005, another Milan-based judge, Clementina Forleo, raised
eyebrows by acquitting three men linked to Ansar al-Islam on the
grounds that 'the recruitment of volunteers to fight in Iraq against
American soldiers cannot be considered under any point of view a
terrorist activity'. That ruling was later overturned by Italy's
Court of Cassation.
Police in Italy have arrested scores of alleged terrorist
suspects since the September 11 attacks, but only a handful
have actually been convicted of the charges brought against them.
The latest arrests came at the weekend, when police in central
Italy apprehended three Moroccan accused of running 'a bomb school'
for Islamist militants after raiding a mosque in Perugia.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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