A disagreement within the government continued on Tuesday over whether to grant Italian citizenship to a 13-year-old Egyptian boy hailed as a hero after last week's school-bus hijacking near Milan. Ramy Shehata hid his phone from the bus hijacker and phoned police so they could rescue the 51 kids on board before he torched the vehicle.
On Monday Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League party, ruled out granting Italian citizenship on the grounds that a close relative of the boy has a criminal record.
But on Tuesday Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said he thought the boy should be granted citizenship anyway.
"I think the (special) merit should be acknowledged for a child who was capable of being so strong and averting a tragedy," said Bonafede, a member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), the League's coalition partner.
On Monday Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio, the M5S leader, said he thought Ramy should get citizenship too.
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