Fears that Islamic terrorist groups may enter Europe by exploiting migrants' vessels, are now confirmed, after the particular story of Ben Mehedi Nasr. A story that happened just a few days ago. When he was arrested in the 2007, in Novellara, in the province of Reggio Emilia, the Tunisian Ben Mehedi Nasr was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists present in Italy. Considered a member of the "17 Brothers", a group established in Italy dedicated to the recruitment of fundamentalist cells, the history of Nasr is placed before the exodus of migrants and refugees who will soon reach Europe through the boats of hope.
The man arrives in Italy with a commercial ferry. The then 31enne settled in immediately and managed to find work as a construction worker. Some investigations by the Italian authorities, however, later revealed the mason's involvement in the radicalization of young Muslims during evening meetings in the Islamic centers between Reggio Emilia and Milan. During the investigation, it was discovered that Nasr was one of the leaders of a new cell active in Italy for the recruitment of young fighters to be sent to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nasr, along with Dridi Sabri, who had created a similar structure in Milan and Imed Ben Zarkaouwi, who was traveling between Reggio Emilia and Milan, were arrested in November of the 2007 after an undercover operation of the Special Operations Group, a division of Italian carabinieri. At the trial, Mehedi Nasr was deemed "an expert in explosives whose skills in recruiting aspiring jihadist Salafis were second to none". In his apartment, color illustrated manuals were also found on how to make explosives, chemicals and detonators. Also crucial were the wiretaps made between the man and some terrorists in Damascus. Investigators talked about "a factory for suicide bombers in an apartment building in Milan, where young people were trained in difficult psychological circumstances before being sent to fight".
According to the indictment, Mehdi's main activity was to organize attacks in the Middle East. The Italian police also succeeded in destroying an arms trafficking through traditional routes used by organized crime. The trial was then concluded with a sentence of seven years for Nasr on terrorism charges. Sent to the maximum security prison in Naples, at the end of the 2008 he would have been offered the opportunity to leave the prison facility in exchange for some of his statements and testimony in other trials against other "Brothers". Nasr would have refused to cooperate. A few months after the offer, Ben Mehedi's cousin Nasr, Mourad Nasr, was allegedly arrested on terrorism charges. Medhi's seven-year sentence, largely based on 25 telephone interceptions, was confirmed by the Court of Appeal of Reggio Emilia in the 2011.
On Ben Mehedi Nasr the curtain falls until his release, which took place in the 2014. The man is extradited to Tunisia. On 4 last October, Nasr tries to return to Italy. With a group of 200 Syrian refugees set sail from Libya and rescued by the Italian navy in the Mediterranean. Transferred to Lampedusa, he claims to be called Mohamed Ben Sar: he asks for asylum in northern Europe, where he claims to have relatives, to escape political persecution. A Syrian document also supports his identity. It will turn out to be false. His story remains standing for three days, until his fingerprints identify him as Ben Mehedi Nasr, known to the Italian authorities and already convicted of terrorism.
The foreign press shocked. "Instead of detaining him and investigating his return, the Italian authorities sent him back to Tunisia a few days later." According to a bilateral agreement the two countries, the automated repatriation applies to the Tunisian citizens who illegally enter Italy. This happens only for those who are not suspected of being traffickers. Nasr, like the others in despair, would pay the ferrymen. In fact, he did not commit any crime on that boat.
Nasr, despite his past, was not suspected of any crime.
