The arrest of the Palestinian activist takes place in a European context marked by investigations and measures against groups engaged in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Italian authorities arrested Palestinian activist Mohammed Hannoun on Saturday morning. Hannoun is the president of the Association of Palestinians in Italy. The arrest is part of a wide-ranging investigation coordinated by the Genoa District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office.
The operation led to precautionary measures being imposed on nine individuals and three associations, as well as the seizure of assets and financial resources estimated at more than eight million euros, which investigators claim are linked to illicit financing activities.
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According to the allegations brought by judicial authorities, Hannoun is accused of playing a central role in an alleged network for the collection and transfer of funds that were purportedly destined for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, an organization that the European Union classifies as terrorist.
The accusations concern, in particular, the management of funds raised through associations engaged in humanitarian activities in support of the Palestinian population.
Hannoun, born in 1962 in Jordan and resident in Genoa for many years, is an architect by profession and is known in Italy for his political and social activism in support of the Palestinian cause.
Over the course of decades, he has organized and taken part in public demonstrations, solidarity initiatives, and awareness campaigns, operating openly within the civic and associative sphere.
In the past, Hannoun has repeatedly rejected the accusations against him, describing them as a political construction and asserting that his commitment is exclusively linked to the defense of the rights of the Palestinian people.
In previous public statements, he said he considers Hamas a political actor legitimized by electoral consent in the Palestinian territories, clarifying that his support is political in nature and not connected to any direct participation in armed actions.
“I am simply a Palestinian who has been engaged for decades in the struggle for the rights of his people. Hamas received more than 70 percent of the vote in Gaza and the West Bank, so it is a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. And I am a sympathizer of Hamas, just as I am of every faction that fights for my rights,” he said in a recent interview with the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Beyond the accusations put forward by prosecutors, it is important to recall that, under Italian law, Mohammed Hannoun must be considered innocent until proven guilty.
The arrest comes amid an increasingly repressive European climate marked by the criminalization of political, associative, and humanitarian groups that express support for the Palestinian people.
In several European Union countries, activists, NGOs, and solidarity networks have become the targets of investigations, forced dissolutions, account freezes, and judicial proceedings, in a context in which the boundary between legitimate political activity and criminal offense is being progressively narrowed.
At the same time, several European governments—including Italy’s—continue to maintain economic and military relations with Israel, despite serious accusations of genocide raised by international bodies, jurists, and human rights institutions in relation to the genocide in Gaza, which has resulted in the killing of nearly 71,000 people.
Journalistic investigations and independent analyses, such as those published by Altraeconomia, have documented Italy’s role in the sale and export of weapons to Israel, including in the context of the genocide in Gaza, raising questions about the consistency of official policies and compliance with international law.
(Palestine Chronicle Italia)
