SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A far right Italian politician -- nicknamed "The Sheriff" -- has reportedly been slapped with a fatwa in response to his anti-Islam, and anti-immigrant, rhetoric. But it may only encourage him.
He likes to express controversial opinions, like the notion that police should "ethnically cleanse" homosexuals or that immigrants in public parks should be "dressed up like rabbits" and used for target practice. But now Giancarlo Gentilini, the deputy mayor of the northeastern Italian city of Treviso, has reportedly had a fatwa declared against him.
"I defend my culture, my religion and civilization without any fear, and so it is natural that I will make some enemies," Gentilini, who belongs to the anti-immigrant, far-right Northern League party, told the Italian news agency ANSA Friday.
Gentilini's name can be found on a list of men to be killed on an Islamic Web site based in Lebanon, according to ilpadano.com, a news site with ties to the Northern League. The site's name is related to the term "Padania," which the party uses to denote northern Italy.
According to ilpadano.com, the fatwa was issued in response to Gentilini's "blaspheming" Islam. Police consider the reports credible, according to ANSA, which adds that the fatwa was issued several months ago.
Gentilini -- who served as mayor of Treviso for two terms before taking his current job -- has been no stranger to controversy. "I want to see a revolution against those that want to open mosques and Islamic centers," he told a Northern League gathering in Venice in September 2008. "This also includes the members of the church hierarchy here who say that we should leave them alone to pray. No, let them go pray in the desert. I'll open a factory to give them the carpets they need to pray on in the desert." >>> jtw | November 24, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Italy)
