Italian police arrest ISIS supporter accused of inciting violence

Nicola Ferrara shared images online of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Osama bin Laden

epa08533934 A frame grab taken from a handout video made available by the press office of the Italian Carabinieri's Special Operations Group (Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, ROS) shows the interceptions of an anti-terrorism operation that led to the arrest on 08 July 2020 in Milan, northern Italy of Nicola Ferrara, an Italian man in his thirties originally from Bari accused of apology of crime and instigation to join the so-called Islamic State (ISIS or IS) terror group. According to media reports, the man shared images, videos and documents that exalted the violence committed by IS terrorists. According to the prosecution, he has carried out an 'obsessive' work of disseminating terrorist images, audio and video on the internet for almost five years. EPA/ROS CARABINIERI HANDOUT -- BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE -- HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Nicola Ferrara was reportedly an obsessive disseminator of ISIS propoganda. EPA

Jul 08, 2020

Italian police have arrested a 38-year-old man who was spreading ISIS propaganda online and allegedly inciting people to carry out violent attacks.

Nicola Ferrara is originally from Bari in Puglia but now lives in Milan where he was detained. He is believed to have been radicalised in 2015 and been in contact with other extremists on online.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan applauds during a conference in Istanbul, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Turkish lawmakers were making their final speeches Tuesday before voting on a bill that would give the government greater powers to regulate social media, in what human rights groups and the opposition have decried as a violation of free expression online. Hundreds of social media users have already been investigated and some arrested for their posts on the COVID-19 pandemic, opposition to Turkish military offensives in Syria or insulting Erdogan and other officials. (Turkish Presidency via AP, Pool)

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Mr Ferrara shared images and videos on social media sites including Facebook and SoundCloud that praised violent acts carried out by ISIS.

According to comments he made that were intercepted by the authorities in March, he said the Covid-19 pandemic was “a positive thing” that had caused people to go “crazy”. He also said it meant that non-Muslims had been removed from their vices.

Among the images he spread online were pictures of the former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, deceased ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, and photographs of New York’s Twin Towers that were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, women carrying machine guns and children using extremist language.

“Radicalizzatore” impegnato a diffondere attraverso internet l’ideologia estremista del Daesh, istigando i propri interlocutori ad unirsi alla jihad globale: 30enne italiano arrestato dai #Carabinieri ROS e Milano all’esito di articolata indagine.#PossiamoAiutarvi #8luglio pic.twitter.com/wI7gREEQtU
— Arma dei Carabinieri (@_Carabinieri_) July 8, 2020