Italy’s Ministry of the Interior has initiated deportation proceedings against Mohamed Shahin, a 46-year-old Egyptian imam who has resided in the country for over two decades. The controversial decision follows remarks Shahin made during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Turin on October 9th, where he characterized Hamas’ October 7th attack on southern Israel—which resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities—as a form of “resistance after years of occupation.”
Counter-terrorism units arrested Shahin in a dawn operation on November 24th after authorities revoked his residence permit and issued an expulsion order. The former imam of Turin’s San Salvario mosque is currently detained at a repatriation facility in Caltanissetta, Sicily, awaiting adjudication of his asylum application.
During proceedings at the Turin Court of Appeal, Shahin asserted that returning to Egypt would expose him to torture and potential execution due to his well-documented criticism of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s administration. “I maintain no affiliation with Hamas and do not advocate violence,” Shahin testified. “My consistent position has been that the Palestinian people deserve sovereign autonomy.”
Legal representatives for the imam have issued grave warnings that repatriation would equate to a “death sentence.” These concerns appear substantiated by investigative reporting from Il Fatto Quotidiano, which revealed that Turin’s prosecutor’s office found insufficient evidence that Shahin’s comments violated penal codes or constituted criminal incitement.
The case has sparked significant opposition across Italian society. Approximately 180 academics endorsed an open letter demanding Shahin’s release, while Turin’s interfaith leadership coalition expressed “profound shock and concern” in correspondence to Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi. They characterized Shahin as instrumental to interreligious dialogue and warned his expulsion would “undermine years of peaceful coexistence.”
Solidarity protests have emerged nationwide, including a strike coordinated by the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) that merged labor demands with condemnation of Italy’s Gaza policy. The demonstration attracted international figures including climate activist Greta Thunberg and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
Ismaele La Vardera of Sicily’s regional assembly, who visited Shahin in detention, acknowledged reservations about the imam’s statements but deemed the deportation order “absolutely disproportionate and unworthy of any democratic nation.”