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Italian Appeals Court Blocks Immediate Expulsion of Turin Imam Mohamed Shahin

Attention turns to a January decision on whether to revoke his residence permit in Piedmont.

Overview

  • The Court of Appeal of Caltanissetta upheld a lower court order that prevents removal and rejected the State Attorney's complaint.
  • Judges said Shahin must be treated as an asylum seeker, which bars repatriation until his protection claim is decided.
  • Shahin was arrested in November after an Interior Ministry expulsion decree linked to remarks the government deemed extremely radical about the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
  • He was held in the Caltanissetta repatriation center until the Turin Court of Appeal ordered his release, finding no grounds for detention.
  • Reporting notes that return to Egypt could expose him to persecution or torture, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has publicly criticized the judicial decisions.