Italy mulls outlawing Italians fighting for ISIS

(ANSA) Florence, January, 21 - Italy is considering passing a decree law to make it illegal for Italians to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq, Italian Undersecretary for Home Affairs Domenico Manzione said Wednesday.
    Premier Matteo Renzi's cabinet could pass the decree on foreign fighters as soon as Thursday, Manzione told reporters on the fringes of the inauguration of a museum on the Shoah in Florence.
    The text of the law "would foresee the possibility of introducing into our order sanctions against people who are enrolled to go and fight abroad," he said.
    "We all have a problem in Europe of the so-called returning fighters from war zones," he added. "We have it less than other European countries but since the phenomenon is there the government seriously is considering approving a decree law for Thursday, or otherwise a delegate law, that would deal with this subject".
    Manzione also said it had been "prudent" of authorities to expel from Italy Furkan Semih Dundar, a Turkish student at the elite Scuola Normale in Pisa, after the Turk was quoted as saying in emails that he wanted to blow up an embassy.
    Also Wednesday the Italian police force ordered that border controls be reinforced amid the alarm caused by this month's Islamist terrorist attacks in France.
    "The growing security demands deriving from the current international scenario make it necessary to strengthen and optimize (border controls)," read a circular letter issued by the police's central migration directorate. The letter tells officers working at border to make "systematic use" of databases to help combat international terrorism.
    Meanwhile the intelligence coordinating body Copasir called for more protection for secret service agents working under cover against terror suspects and said the government should make a "significant increase" in the resources available to the intelligence services so that new staff can be hired in delicate operations and new equipment can be purchased to counter cyber terrorism, interior ministry sources said.