Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Italians kidnapped in Libya: 'no sign of ISIS involvement'

ROME - No indications have emerged that would hint at an involvement by the Islamic State (ISIS) in the kidnapping of four Italians in Libya earlier this month. The statement was made by Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at a joint session of the foreign and defense committees in the parliament on Wednesday.

''It is believed to have possibly been the work merely of criminals for extortion purposes,'' he said. ''So far no terrorist or criminal group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping,'' he added, underscoring that investigations were continuing.

Gentiloni told the parliament on Wednesday that the government had not forgotten about Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, the Italian Jesuit priest taken hostage two years ago in Raqqa, Syria. ''We are continuing to work with absolute constancy, as I confirmed to his brothers about ten days ago,'' he told the joint foreign and defense committees.

Exactly two years after Italian Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio was taken captive in Syria, the city of Rome on Wednesday showcased a giant photo of the peace activist in front of City Hall to express solidarity and demand his release.

 Dall'Oglio was born in Rome exactly 61 years earlier. The photo was on display throughout Wednesday in front of the Campidoglio's Sistus IV entrance. On Sunday, Pope Francis made an appeal for the release of the priest during his Angelus service.

 Italian President Sergio Mattarella a day later said Italy was doing its utmost to free Dall'Oglio and four other Italians who were taken hostage in Libya this month. According to unconfirmed reports earlier this year, Dall'Oglio was in a prison run by militant Islamist group ISIS between Raqqa and Aleppo in the north of Syria. 

A staunch promoter of inter-faith dialogue, the Jesuit founded the al Khalil community in Syria in the 1980s at the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian in the town of Nabk, north of Damascus

No comments:

Post a Comment