Italian authorities are holding a
22-year-old Moroccan man on suspicion of participating in a
bloody March 18 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis pending an
extradition request from Tunisia, sources said Wednesday.
The suspect named as Abdel Majid Touil, was arrested late
Tuesday on an international warrant issued by Tunisia.
An appeals court hearing is slated for Friday. The court
must decided whether or not to extradite Touil to Tunisia, where
he may face the death penalty if found guilty. Italy does not
have the death penalty, and this may factor into the court's
decision.
The March 18 attack by three gunmen claimed the lives of 21
tourists and one Tunisian police officer.
Police killed two of the attackers at the scene, and the
third escaped.
While government congratulated intelligence and law
enforcement on the operation that led to Touil's arrest and
anti-immigrant politicians called for the interior minister's
head, the suspect's family and friends protested his innocence.
"Proud of your professionalism," Premier Matteo Renzi
tweeted after anti-terror police arrested the Moroccan national
in what Justice Minister Andrea Orlando called a "brilliant
operation".
"Congratulations to our men in uniform, our investigators
and intelligence officers," said Interior Minister Angelino
Alfano.
"The terrorist...reached Italy...on a migrant vessel,"
anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party chief Matteo
Salvini wrote on Facebook. "Alfano must resign".
To which Alfano later replied that "Italy doesn't deserve
Salvini".
Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini - whose island is the first
European landfall for boats coming from North Africa - said it's
unlikely a terrorist would risk his life on a migrant vessel.
"In 15 years no terrorist has landed on Lampedusa," said
the Democratic Party (PD) mayor, an outspoken defender of
refugee rights.
"We've only seen people with burns and kidney failure,
children, women...I don't think a real terrorist would risk his
life on such a boat," she said.
"My brother has committed no crime," one of the suspect's
two siblings told ANSA. "He arrived on a boat (on February 17)
like many others, and hasn't left since".
"On March 18 my son was in front of the TV," Touil's mother
Fatma told ANSA. "We watched news of the Bardo attack
together...he had nothing to do with the attack - he was in
Italy".
"He studied Italian and he was looking for a job".
Neighbors questioned whether police have the right man in
custody. "Surely the police made a mistake," one neighbor
commented. "He was home a lot, sometimes he went to Caritas
(Catholic charity) for a meal," another told ANSA. "He's a good
boy, he was looking for work". "He went to school to learn
Italian," another woman said. "An international terrorist who
lives at home with his mother, brothers and little nephew, who
goes to school and eats at Caritas...seems strange to me".
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