The Italian Government under Georgia Meloni have decided to expel Pakistani hate preacher Imam Zulfiqar Khan, back to his home country. The decree for deportation was signed on October 8th, 2024. The 54 year old preacher is currently based in Bologna, Italy and had emigrated from Pakistan in the 1990’s. He has been found guilty of anti semitic sermons calling for radical Islamist groups to attacks native communities.
Khan speeches were reportedly full of anti semitic, anti western and anti women narrative. He also advocated for the Muslims in Italy to resist the writ of the Government by not paying their taxes and instead remain in their own closed communities governed by Islamic rules. Italian authorities were already investigating his links in facilitating a number of radical Islamist groups to infiltrate the city and region.
Khan’s anti west narrative was not just centered only around Italy, he also gave speeches denouncing Germany, France, the UK, and USA, claiming them to be allies of Zionists. As part of his anti Israel narrative Khan regularly showed admiration for the militant outfit Hamas and its devastating actions. Khan asserted that Israel and the USA are terrorists and murderers whilst defending the attritions of Hezbollah, Yemen, Syria and Iran claiming their actions were sanctioned by God.
Khan’s antisemitic comments were well documented wherein he publicly denounced Jews as a cruel people looking to harm others, whilst suggesting the term anti semitic was fabricated and completely irrelevant. He also went on to say that the current Jews are not Semites.
Apart from his public speeches and sermons Khan also commanded a strong online following. Facebook videos of him criticizing people leaving Islam for Christianity were extremely popular. He had also been on an Italian TV show last year, where he used quotes from the Bible to claim Israelites as terrorists and deceivers. He claimed that the freedom of speech enshrined in the Italian constitution guaranteed him his right to give his religious sermons.
Post the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, pro Palestine and pro Hamas protests were strictly restricted in the country. The Italian authorities took a strong stance to deport Khan after it was found that he was part of a pro Palestinian event celebrating the October 7 attacks. Minister of Interior in the Meloni government, Matteo Piantedosi signed the decree ordering for Khan’s deportation.
Khan’s expulsion comes a day after the US Treasury Department sanctioned another Imam active in Italy, the Genoa-based Palestinian architect Mohammad Hannoun, who has been found to be a member of Hamas, dedicated to raising funds for the Palestinian terrorist organization. On the evening of October 8th, prosecutor Nicola Piacente stated that the Genoa Public Prosecutor’s Office could open a new investigation into Mohammad Hannoun if useful documentation for further investigative investigations were to arrive from the United States.
Since becoming Prime minister in 2022, Giorgia Meloni has adopted an extremely tough stand against migrants. She has signed deals with individual African countries to try and block the arrival of immigrants. A further part of Italy’s immigration policy highlighted by the home secretary is a deal made with Albania to deport unwanted elements. The third part of the policy is their approach to return potential asylum seekers back to their countries of origin.