Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Italy mulls Israel’s extradition request for arrested Palestinian terror suspect

 ROME — Italian police have arrested three Palestinians based in central Italy who they said were planning attacks in an unspecified country, a police statement said on Monday, with Israel requesting the extradition of one of them.   

The three men, living in l’Aquila, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Rome, had set up a cell linked to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the statement said.  

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is an armed offshoot of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular nationalist Fatah party. It is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the European Union, and the United States.  

Police said the three Palestinians had been charged with criminal conspiracy for terrorism purposes or subversion of the democratic order, which carries jail terms of up to 15 years. 

“The suspects engaged in proselytism and propaganda… and planned attacks, including suicide attacks, against civilian and military targets on foreign territory,” police said. 

One of the three men is wanted by Israel, which is at war with the Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and an Italian court is examining an extradition request for him, the statement added. 

In a separate statement, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi hailed the arrest of “three dangerous terrorists” and said Italy was always on high alert against extremism and radicalization. 

There was no immediate comment by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. 


https://www.timesofisrael.com/italy-mulls-israels-extradition-request-for-arrested-palestinian-terror-suspect/