Deported imam who defended child marriage at center of Italy’s immigration tensions

BRESCIA, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — Italy has seen major waves of immigration over the past 50 years, including from predominantly Muslim countries. The deportation of a Pakistani imam earlier this year over comments about child marriage is a rare example of a Western nation asserting its moral and cultural values against this backdrop.

On April 3, Italian authorities deported Pakistani imam Ali Kashif from the country after he said that marrying a 9-year-old girl is permissible, with his comments being judged relevant to an assessment of “social dangerousness.” The expulsion was carried out by the Brescia Police Headquarters following an order from Brescia Police Chief Paolo Sartori, who initiated proceedings against Kashif after his comments were broadcast on the Italian television programme Fuori dal coro on January 25. Kashif was taken to Milan Malpensa Airport and placed on a flight bound for Islamabad, Pakistan.

The remarks at the centre of the case were recorded as part of a TV report during which an undercover reporter presented himself as a student interested in Islam. According to the report, Kashif said: “In our Islam, after 9 years and after the beginning of menstruation a girl becomes an adult. The Koran says that she may be married.”

Those statements became part of the authorities’ assessment of Kashif’s immigration status in Italy. His residence permit was refused, and the Brescia authorities began proceedings to remove him from the country on grounds of “social dangerousness.” Kashif reportedly served intermittently as an imam at two Islamic centres in Brescia.

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The massive migration of Muslims to Italy has unfolded gradually over the past half-century. The first significant arrivals occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when workers from North Africa – especially Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt – came seeking employment in agriculture, construction, and domestic service. Later waves included refugees from Albania, the Balkans, and the Middle East, particularly after the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, and more recently from Syria and Afghanistan.

Italy’s position in the Mediterranean makes it both a gateway and a crossroads: it is one of the first European countries reached by migrants crossing from North Africa, and its ports have become symbolic entry points to the European Union. This geographic reality has given Italy a central role in the broader European debate on migration.

Despite the visibility of Islam in Italian public life – through mosques, cultural centers, and community associations – the Muslim population remains relatively small compared to other Western European countries, estimated at around 5 percent of the total population.

However, expulsions of imams or other Muslims, such as the recent case in Brescia, are very rare and tend to occur only when authorities judge that public statements or actions pose a particular threat to social order. Deportations appear to happen mostly because the reported people attract considerable media attention.

In an announcement dated January 14, 2025, the Italian Ministry of the Interior stated that in a period of a little over two years, from October 2022 to January 2025, “182 expulsion or removal orders for reasons of national security have been carried out,” of which only 21 were issued directly by the ministry itself.

Nevertheless, according to the ministry’s parliamentary report for 2024, foreign nationals accounted for approximately 8.9 percent of Italy’s resident population and 34.7 percent of all people reported to or arrested by the authorities. Their share was 47.79 percent among those reported or arrested for theft and 52.37 percent among those reported or arrested for robbery.