Italy: Imam Given the Boot

The Italian Ministry of Interior has just announced that a Pakistani imam, residing in the northern Italian town of Brescia (just outside Milan), has been expelled from the country for making public statements advocating the marriage of girls as young as 9 years old. Ali Kashif was put on a plane from Milan’s Malpensa Airport directly back to Pakistan.

The article below from Il Tempo is translated by Fousesquawk.

Brescia: Imam and comments on child brides: Expelled

Caption: “In our Islam, after age 9, a girl becomes a woman.”

Shocking document: Brescia imam says yes to child brides.

He said that according to Islam, after the age of 9, girls are suitable to marry. These words, spoken by Brescia imam Ali Kashif into the microphones of the program, “Out of the box”, have cost him expulsion from the country. It was the Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi who made the notification: “He had claimed that a girl, after the age of 9, could be considered an adult and therefore could marry, in effect, legitimizing the phenomenon of so-called child brides. Subsequent to the expulsion order, he was placed on a flight from Milan’s Malpensa Airport and sent back to his country of origin.”

Originally from Pakistan, Kashif had emphasized the legitimacy, according to the Koran, of marriage with young girls: “The Islamic religion says that if the parents are happy and both are in agreement, they can marry even at the age of 9. In our Islam, after 9 years, a girl becomes an adult. In the Koran, it says that it can be done.”  The order was carried out by the police headquarters of Brescia on the instruction of the Ministry of Interior, which made the decision citing reasons of security, the lack of a residence permit of the person in question, and his incompatibility with constitutional values.

From Brothers of Italy (party), Member of Parliament Riccardo De Corato expressed “full support for the measure” in the face of “very serious statements”, to which the State must react “with firmness and without any hesitation”. And he added: “Whoever thinks they can justify, in our country, barbaric practices, contrary to the dignity of the individual, the rights of minors, and fundamental principles of our legal system, needs to know that in Italy, there is no room for fanaticism, for extremism, and for whoever disseminates messages incompatible with our legal system. The action taken by the police commissioner is an act that is just, necessary, and in accordance with his duty. The protection and care of minors, the security of citizens, and the defense of the law come before all.”