Italy expels imam who named daughter Jihad

Rome, July 27 (IANS/AKI) Italian authorities have deported on national security grounds a radical Moroccan cleric who called one of his daughters Jihad.

Mohammed Madad was collected by police from his home in the northeast town of Noventa Vicentina and put on a flight for Morocco from Rome's main airport late Tuesday.

Madad, a 52-year-old father of four, was banned from re-entering Italy for the next 15 years.

The firebrand cleric's sermons became increasingly violent and anti-Western with the aim of indoctrinating youngsters with radical Salafite ideology, according to anti-terrorism investigators.

Madad was capable of international terrorism, the investigators said.

A probe was opened into Madad after police received several tip-offs from the public, investigators said.

Earlier this year, Madad was appointed imam of a mosque and Islamic centre in Noventa Vicentina, which has a sizeable Muslim community.

Close to 100 terrorism suspects have been expelled from Italy since the beginning of 2015.

--IANS/AKI

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