Threats Force Muslim Councilor to Flee Italy

OnIslam & Newspapers

Sunday, 07 September 2014 00:00

The resignation of Mesrar has spread alarm among Italian politicians over the growth of extremist threats.

CAIRO – In a new example of racism targeting non-white public figures, Italy’s first Muslim councilor has been forced to flee the country after receiving a series of death threats, citing fear for her children’s lives.

“I cannot always live under escort. I have no fear and it is not the fault of the people of Rovereto, but of some,” Aicha Mesrar, 45, said as she announced her resignation, The Independent reported.

“I leave with pride, satisfied with everything I have done, what I did and what I received,” she added, without saying where she intends to move to.

Living in Italy for 23 years, Mesrar, the first woman to wear a veil in the city, has been an active and effective community liaison worker, according to local media.

The city’s Mayor, Andrea Miorandi, had hailed her appointment as president of the local Open City cooperative.

However, after receiving several death threats, the Moroccan-born politician resigned from her post as local councilor for the Democratic Party in Rovereto, in the northern Trentino province.

The threats against her have come in the form of anonymous letters.

The police, who have provided special protection for councilor and her family for two years, are investigating where they may have come from.

Mayor Andrea Miorandi, a political ally of Mesrar, has also been threatened due to his backing for a Muslim cemetery and a mosque to be built in  the city, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.7 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to the figures released by Istat, the national statistics agency.

Worrying

The resignation of Mesrar has spread alarm among Italian politicians over the growth of extremist threats.

“If Aicha Mesrar, an extraordinary example of commitment towards building bridgesbetween cultures – in Rovereto and Trentino – decides to abandon her post and even leave the country, then everyone should be concerned,” Bruno Dorigatti, the head of the provincial government, said.

“If she has to give in to intimidation and anonymous threats it means that Trentino has yet to defeat the dangerous disease of intolerance.”

Yet, the Northern League, many of whose politicians have aimed racist abuse at non-whites living in Italy, mocked Dorigatti’s comments.

“This isn’t the impression of many people in Trentino who themselves feel discriminated against by the supply of public subsidies to foreigners,” the party’s regional secretary, Maurizio Fugatti, said.

“So we won’t accept lessons about tolerance from Aicha Mesrar. We don’t know why she’s leaving Trentino.

“Certainly, we won’t be lacking in foreigners like her, who’ve come to this province as guests and exploited Trentino’s social services then ungratefully stabbed Trentino’s citizens in the back.”