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JIHADIST

‘Jihadist’ imam who preached in Italy arrested

An imam who has preached in several Italian cities was arrested in Bosnia on Friday morning accused of recruiting combatants to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (Isis), Italian media has reported.

'Jihadist' imam who preached in Italy arrested
Over the past few years, Bilal Bosnic reportedly preached at mosques in Cremona, Motta Baluffi, Bergamo and other Italian cities.

Bilal Bosnic and 15 others were arrested on Friday morning by Serbian police in Bosnia, as part of an operation conducted collaboration with police from Cremona and Bergamo, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported.

Police also found a large quantity of weapons in various Bosnian cities during the investigation.

Bosnic is accused of recruiting combatants to Syria and Iraq to fight for Isis.

Over the past few years, Bosnic reportedly preached at mosques in northern Italy including those in Cremona, Motta Baluffi, Bergamo.

In August, The Local reported that five people in the northern Italian region of Veneto were being investigated for alleged links to jihadist militant groups.

The five residents were suspected of being close to jihadist groups, with some thought to have recruited fighters for Iraq and Syria. 

And earlier that month it was reported that around 50 Italians had been recruited by Isis, the majority from non-immigrant families.

The latest arrest in Italy comes as the US announces plans to form a “core coalition” to fight Isis militants in Iraq.

Italy was invited to join as well as Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Denmark and Poland.

"We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, to bolster the Iraqi security forces and others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own," US Secretary of State John Kerry said at a Nato summit in Wales on Friday, according to Reuters.

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ISIS

Ex-jihadi housewife jailed in Norway for joining IS

A Norwegian court on Tuesday sentenced a woman who lived as a housewife in Syria to prison for being a member of the Islamic State group (IS), despite not actively fighting herself.

Ex-jihadi housewife jailed in Norway for joining IS
The Kurdish-run al-Hol camp which holds suspected relatives of Islamic State fighters.Photo: Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

The Oslo court sentenced the Norwegian-Pakistani woman to three and a half years in prison for “participating in a terrorist organisation” by taking care of her household and enabling her three husbands to fight.

“By travelling to an area controlled by IS in Syria… by moving in and living with her husbands, taking care of the children and various tasks at home, the defendant enabled her three husbands to actively participate in IS fighting,” judge Ingmar Nilsen said as he read out the verdict.

Being a housewife to three successive husbands did not render her a passive bystander, the judge said.

“On the contrary, she was a supporter who enabled the jihad, looked after her three husbands at home and raised the new generation of IS recruits,” he said.

The young woman, who admitted having “radical ideas” at the time, left for Syria in early 2013 to join an Islamist fighter, Bastian Vasquez, who was fighting the regime.

Although she did not take up arms herself, she was accused of having allowed her husbands to go fight while taking care of her two children and household chores.

The trial was the first prosecution in Norway of someone who had returned after joining IS.

“This is a special case,” prosecutor Geir Evanger acknowledged during the trial.

“This is the first time that, to put it bluntly, someone has been charged for being a wife and mother.”

The prosecution had called for a four-year sentence, while the defence had called for her acquittal and immediately appealed Tuesday’s verdict.

The woman’s lawyer, Nils Christian Nordhus, argued that his client had quickly wanted to leave Syria after being subjected to domestic violence.

She had also been a victim of human trafficking because she had been held against her will, he added.

But the judge stressed that she had participated in the organisation “knowingly” and of her own will.

The woman was repatriated to Norway in early 2020 on humanitarian grounds with her two children, including a young boy described as seriously ill.

At least four other Norwegian women and their children are being held in Kurdish-controlled camps in Syria.

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