Italy : Arrest of Syrians on charges of financing an anti-President Bashar al-Assad militia involved in international terrorist activities

The Italian police in the province of Sassari (Sardinia Province - west) arrested two citizens of Syrian origin, who were sentenced to prison by the Court of Appeal, on charges of involvement in international terrorist activities.

Investigations conducted in cooperation with the Central Preventive Police Directorate - the Agency for Combating Extremism and Foreign Terrorism, revealed that from 2014 until the beginning of 2018, the two men were part of an organization specialized in postal transfers, as they were making financial transfers from Italy to Syria and vice versa for the benefit of anti-militia fighters. To the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Investigations revealed that these militias have been using methods that involve the indiscriminate use of violence, indifferent to the lives of defenseless civilians, and accepting the side effects of direct violence.

Security sources said that among the materials found were video clips of oath-taking ceremonies, military training exercises praising victories, and war scenes with explosions, the common denominator of which was the celebration of the revolutionary forces fighting the Syrian authorities.

The two arrested men were sentenced to 5 years in prison, and under the period of pretrial detention they had previously been subjected to pending investigation, the two men will remain in prison for approximately one year and six months in the Bankali (Sassari) prison, to which they were taken.