International Anti-Terrorism Law

Author: Zheng Yuanmin, Huang Xiaoxi, Tang E
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features:
(5) Italy
1. Urging the establishment of an anti-terrorism political alliance After the 9/11 incident, the Italian President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Interior Minister, among other political leaders, engaged in extensive shuttle diplomacy in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean region to demonstrate Italy's decisive stance against terrorism and to support the EU and NATO's measures to back U.S. military actions and combat terrorism. On one hand, Italy unconditionally supported the U.S., providing military bases and combat forces, and proactively requested to take over the U.S. deployment in the Balkans. On the other hand, it actively called for advancing the peace process in the Middle East, suggesting that the EU formulate a "Marshall Plan" to fund Palestine, thereby broadly securing the understanding and support of Arab countries in the anti-terrorism struggle.
2. Close international intelligence cooperation Regarding this cooperation, Italy primarily carried it out in three aspects:
(1) Strengthening cooperation with the U.S. and European countries to further achieve intelligence sharing;
(2) Consolidating good cooperative relations with intelligence organizations of Arab countries such as Egypt and Palestine to expand information channels. Before the 2001 G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy obtained intelligence from Arab agents about al-Qaeda's plans to strike the U.S. during the summit. Due to Italy's timely and stringent security measures, including sealing air routes and ports and designating safe zones, the terrorist plot was thwarted.
(3) Selecting agents with high comprehensive qualities and the ability to communicate freely in foreign languages to form "action teams" for extensive international activities, information exchange, and timely consensus-building on defense.
3. Jointly investigating terrorist organization assets The government established a "Financial Committee" specifically to investigate the illegal financial flows of terrorist organizations, enabling collaboration with other countries to trace and freeze the assets of terrorist organizations in Italy and Europe, cut off their funding sources, and promote the international community's efforts to dismantle the economic foundations of terrorist groups, effectively preventing and combating the financial organizations of international terrorism. In December 2001, Italy and the U.S. reached a consensus on enhancing security, deciding to strengthen Italy-U.S. cooperation, particularly in exchanging experiences in combating terrorist organizations, and quickly restarting the "Bilateral Committee."
4. Collaborating to strengthen border security On September 14, 2001, the government passed a new immigration law, aiming to more strictly and effectively restrict foreign immigration and promptly deport illegal immigrants: tightening labor import controls, establishing vocational training programs in labor-importing countries, and hiring only qualified individuals; swiftly deporting confirmed illegal immigrants; imposing a sentence of 6 to 12 months in prison on illegal immigrants who return to Italy after being deported; and sentencing those who repeatedly cross the border into Italy three times to 1 to 4 years in prison. The law also limited the number of foreign players entering Italian professional teams each year.
On November 22 of the same year, the Interior Ministers of Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia met in Budapest and issued a statement, indicating that the four countries would further strengthen cooperation in combating illegal immigration and organized crime. Italy, Slovenia, and Hungary were respectively responsible for researching organized crime, illegal immigration, and the development of joint training programs for border forces and police among the four countries. In December 2001, Italy and Germany reached a consensus on strengthening joint cooperation in combating terrorism, expressing a shared desire to promote the establishment of border police. Italy also focused on the border security issues of Eastern European countries, proposing the formation of a "Special Working Group" to help them enhance their capacity to resist terrorist activities and illegal immigration.