Why have visas been denied to exponents of the Iraqi opposition and victims of the occupation?
To the
Minister of Foreign Affairs
MP Gianfranco Fini
We, the undersigned, have come to know about the following facts concerning your ministry and express our strong concerns about the decisions taken:
1. Several exponents of the Iraqi opposition, including Jawas al-Khalesi, Ahmed al-Baghdadi and Ibrahim al-Kubaysi, were denied entry visas for Italy, citing reasons of national security for this decision. These persons in fact posses regular passports and lead ordinary lives in their country.
2. The decision of the Ministry of Foreign affairs was taken after it transpired that 44 members of Congress of the United States of America had addressed a letter to the Italian ambassador to Washington, in which they demanded to prevent the entrance of these three Iraqi citizens into Italy.
3. The Italian embassy to Amman subsequently denied a visa to the Iraqi citizen Haj Ali, who had become famous for having been detained and tortured in the infamous gaol of Abu Ghraib; the reason given by the embassy for the denial of a visa to Haj Ali was that a visa to enter Italy had to be applied for in Baghdad, and not in Amman. This decision was revealed to the applicant only twenty-five days after the application.
The undersigned members of parliament believe the line of your Ministry to be unfounded and obviously motivated by subordination to the request of the US members of Congress, and demand that all obstacles to the entrance to Italy of the Iraqi citizens mentioned above be removed.
Members of parliament and senators of the Partito dei Comunisti Italiani:
Luigi Marino, Gianfranco Pagliarulo, Angelo Muzio, Katia Bellillo, Armando Cossutta, Maura Cossutta, Oliviero Diliberto, Severino Galante, Gabriella Pistone, Roberto Sciacca, Giuseppe Sgobio
Members of parliament and senators of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista: Maria Celeste Cardini, Elettra Deiana, Titti De Simone, Pietro Folena, Alfonso Gianni, Luigi Malabarba, Ramon Mantovani, Francesco Martone, Giuliano Pisapia, Marilde Provera, Giovanni Russo Spena, Tommaso Sodano, Livio Togni, Tiziana Valpiana
Members of parliament and senators of the Green Party: Paolo Cento, Mauro Bulgarelli, Loredana De Petris, Luana Zanella, Marco Lion, Fiorello Cortina, Tana De Zulueta, Natale Ripamonti,Stefano Boco, Giampaolo Zancan
Members of parliament and senators of the Democratici di Sinistra: Aleandro Longhi, Angelo Flammia, Giovanni Battaglia, Daria Bonfietti, Piero Di Siena
Senator of Il Cantiere: Antonello Falomi
