Monday, September 17, 2012

Salafists Convicted in Gaza of Vittorio Arrigoni 's death

A Gaza military court has convicted four members of the Jihadist Salafi faction for the kidnapping and murdering of Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza last year. The Italian Activist was a member of the International Solidarity Movement. The Salafis share the radical ideology of al-Qaida and are rivals of the Hamas Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.

Mahmud al-Salfiti, 24, and Tamer al-Husasna, 26, were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Vittorio Arrigoni and were sentenced to life imprisonment. Khadr Faruk Jerim, 26, received a 10-year prison term for kidnapping. Amer Abu Ghola, 26, was jailed for a year for providing the house in which Arrigoni was found hanged.


From the J Post


The group had hoped to force Hamas to release a Salafist leader, Hisham al-Saidni. Hamas police said the kidnappers killed Arrigoni before a deadline they had set for Saidni's release had expired.

Arriogni's killing horrified international pro-Palestinian activists and tested Hamas's authority in the enclave, which it seized from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's allies in a brief civil war in 2007.

Saidni was recently freed without charge after pledging not to disturb public order, Hamas said.

There was no immediate reaction from Jihadist Salafi groups that have accused Hamas security forces of arresting nearly 40 of their men, some for firing rockets against Israel.

Three of the defendants were identified by the Hamas-run court as Hamas security men who had been working for the Salafi group for ideological reasons. Two received life sentences and one was jailed for 10 years. The men flashed defiant smiles as the sentences were handed down.

The fourth man, a fisherman, fled Gaza after the killing and was sentenced in absentia to 12 months. Two other men were killed in a gun battle with Hamas forces trying to rescue Arrigoni.

1 comment:

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

other then some sympathetic memorial Youtube videos about arrigoni's death i don't seem to remember this "out rage" from pro-palestinian activists that Jpost speaks to. and those videos just really carry on about how "courageous" as a human rights activist with out ever really getting into how he died much. that comes as no surprise for obvious reasons so don't count on him becoming the next rachel corrie given that the circumstances of his death aren't too convenient to the ISM's agenda.