In February this year a Pakistani man, aged 23, was expelled from Italy and sent to Pakistan for allegedly voicing support for ISIS. He was expelled by administrative order, on vaguely stated grounds, and without judicial involvement. The person in question, Muhammed Usman “Rayen” Khan, had been resident in Bozen since the age of 8.
Avv. Nicola Canestrini, a member of the European Criminal Bar Association, lodged an application for judicial review of the expulsion order before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (TAR Lazio). A member of the European Parliament, Matteo Salvini, criticised this action on his facebook page and received many statements of support from facebook “followers”.
The matter was raised with the Italian Prime Minister by the CCBE. The ECBA has written a letter to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament as it was felt that it was important that Mr Schulz should be aware of this incident, primarily because of its threat to the rule of law, but also because of its detrimental effect on the reputation and standing of the European Parliament.
