Italy detains Egyptian imam accused of preaching violence

ROME – Police in southern Italy have detained an Egyptian imam who ran a cultural centre where he allegedly preached extremist and violent interpretations of Islam to children.

Financial police in Foggia say Mohy Eldin Mostafa Omer Abdel Rahman is accused of criminal association with the aim of terrorism and instigation to violence. During a raid Tuesday, police seized his Al Dawa cultural centre.

A police statement said the seizure was part of a larger investigation that resulted in the arrest in July of a Chechen man, Eli Bombataliev, accused of fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria and participating in a deadly attack on foreign and Russian journalists in Chechnya.

Italy has been spared an Islamic extremist attack, thanks in part to widespread wiretapping and expulsions of suspected extremists.