Bologna is basking in the glow of attention afforded by American writer John Grisham, who has chosen to ambient most of his latest novel The Broker in its medieval city centre.
The story revolves around an imprisoned, high-profile lawyer (obviously) who receives a controversial pardon in the dying days of an administration. On his release he is spirited out of the country, by the CIA, to a new anonymous life in Bologna. Of course there is skullduggery afoot, and in truth our hero has been placed out of American Jurisdiction in order for the rest of the world’s baddies (Mossad, the Saudis, and Red China) to get a shot at eliminating him.
While Bologna basks, in Milan a row has developed over the last three weeks between the Italian magistrature and a number of Government ministers over a case against three supposed Islamic militants.
The row first broke out when a Judge absolved a number of North African men from charges relating to international terrorism. While the Judge, Clementina Forleo, ruled that the men in various cases were guilty of aiding clandestine immigration to Italy, and of falsifying documents, she refused to find the men guilty of international terrorism. The Judge admitted that the men’s principal aim in Italy was the collection of money and volunteers for military training camps in the middle east, presumably in Iraq[1]. Forleo found, though, that the State had not proved any concrete connection between the financing and support of these camps and international terrorism. In her summing up, she referred to article 18/2, of the 1999 UN convention on International Terrorism, suggesting, according to the press, that there was a distinction to be made between ‘guerillas’ and ‘terrorists’.
The case could not have come at a more sensitive time, as an Italian soldier, Simone Cola, was shot in Nassirya on the 21st of January. Reminding anyone who needed reminding, that the Italians have a large contingent of ‘peace-keepers’ in Iraq. The question was obvious: could Cola’s attackers have benefitted from funds or volunteers sent by the men absolved in Milan. The Minister for Justice ordered an immediate investigation into the sentencing.
It’s not the scope of this entry to examine the legal arguments put forward by Judge Forleo. What is of primary interest to today’s entry is what happened/is happening subsequently.
One of the defendants, Mohammed Daki, was sentenced to one year and ten months – of which he had already served the majority. As a result, on the 4th of February he was released, and was the subject of an immediate attempt at expulsion by Interior Minister Pisanu. However, due to part of the country’s restrictive immigration laws, no international terrorist suspects may be the subject of an expulsion order. And so, Mohammed Daki remains in legal limbo. He is clandestine in the country, but exempt from expulsion.
In the absence of an expulsion order, Minister Pisanu has applied for a special preventative order which will oblige Daki to remain in the town of Reggio Emilia, presenting himself to the local police twice daily.
This monkey, being slow on the uptake, has often wondered about the merits of expelling terrorist suspects from western countries. Surely sending them out of your jurisdiction impedes the possibilities for surveillance and information gathering? Thanks to the outspoken Minister for institutional reform and devolution, Roberto Calderoli, the thinking becomes clear. Calderoli said of Daki last week: “Daki should be immediately deported. Morrocan Justice will take care of him, taking care of justice for us as well. […] Poor Italy, transformed into a land for clandestine terrorists and fagots”[2](What homosexuality has to do with the argument one can only wonder – but that’s Calderoli for you). For people like Calderoli there is a presumed guilt, and if legal measures in one’s own country don’t produce the desired result, then the suspect should be handed over to a country that doesn’t have such ‘limitations’.
One has to thank Calderoli for his bluntness – in stark contrast to the official language employed by Italy’s ally, the United States, that is currently employing a system of ‘Rendition Flights’ (with stopovers in Britain, and Ireland). These ‘rendition flights’ are where terror suspects are flown secretly to their countries of origin, where torture poses no legal problem, and all based on the suspicions of the ‘intelligence’ community.
It’s ironic that this should be happening at precisely the time that Tony Blair has publicly apologised to the Guilford Four, who were wrongly convicted following the IRA bombing of a pub in Guilford in 1974.
Of course, people convinced of the righteousness of the war against terror will argue that it’s better to be safe than sorry, as was suggested by former CIA official Michael Scheur who said “The bottom line is, getting anyone off the street who you are confident has been involved, or is planning to be involved, in operations that could kill Americans is a worthwhile activity”[3].
Since Sept 11th, 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that between three to five thousand people have been detained in the United States (the Government refuses to release official figures). “It is known, however, that this group is almost entirely Arab, South Asian, or Muslim and most have been deported or allowed to leave the country. None of the detainees has been charged with any terrorism-related crime”[4]. Deported seems a gentle term when national security is at stake. What does it matter if/when mistakes are made? Take into account the comments of Bob Baer, a former CIA operative in the middle east, and things take on a different light: “If you want a serious interrogation you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear . . . you send them to Egypt”[5]. Apologies for miscarriages of justice issued later will hardly be much consolation to prisoners ‘disappeared’.
That there may be a problem with the interpretation of the law in Italy, where suspects who have been proven to have sent money and volunteers to an area where Italian soldiers are under threat, seems obvious. There are appeal process, that are under way, however – giving ample opportunity for legal argument on the case.
Grisham is a bestselling author who knows what side his bread is buttered on. The hero in The Broker, subject to a type of rendition flight, gains our sympathy. He’s a patriot, with a pardon from the President, and, most importantly, white.
[1] – Corriere Della Sera 24/01
[2] – “Bisogna espellere subito Daki. Ci penser