Youssef Siher, awaiting hearing to validate arrest: "He had a subversive plan"

Youssef Siher, the Italian researcher and political scientist with Moroccan origins and administrator of the social media pages "17 October Movement", will be able to defend himself from the charges against him in the hearing to validate the detention which will be held today or tomorrow at the latest. Today the request for validation and application of the prison precautionary measure will be forwarded to the investigating judge. The 30-year-old was arrested on Saturday for incitement to commit crimes with the aim of terrorism and organized violence in public demonstrations, and his wife, a cultural mediator resident in Comasco, is under investigation for the same crimes.

“Subversive project"

According to the Milan prosecutors, there are no state entities or organizations behind the "October 17 Movement" but only Siher. With those messages spread on Telegram and Instagram which could potentially reach 150 thousand people, the prosecutor writes in the arrest decree with which he ordered his imprisonment, the man would have created "a state of intimidation of the population". And he would have taken advantage of what happened in the square last weekend to implement a "project aimed at carrying out criminal acts, with subversive purposes". In short, say the prosecutors, the objective was to "generate terror in the population" and this is why he is charged with the aggravating circumstance of terrorism.

Also waiting for the interrogation

On social media Siher called for "permanent mobilization every Saturday. Until the fall of this thieving government", summoning demonstrators to the squares of eight cities. The researcher, born in the Brescia area but living in Milan for some time, has not yet been questioned by prosecutors: the technical-IT operations lasted a long time also due to his attitude, which was not exactly collaborative. The data extraction and analysis processes by the Postal Police, which took place in his presence and a lawyer, therefore lasted a long time.

The bond with the young people who took to the streets

At present there are no direct connections between Siher and his wife and the perpetrators of the clashes and looting which on Saturday 17 October and the following day in Piazza Duomo and the nearby streets saw many very young boys as protagonists. The woman was with her husband in a friend's apartment in Corvetto and it was thanks to her cell phone that investigators managed to locate Siher, who instead had his phone turned off. During the searches, maps of the cities where the demonstrations were planned were found, a further element that would confirm that he was indeed behind the Movement's page.

What counterterrorism investigates

However, another series of elements are all being examined by Digos agents and the Flying Squad. The Anti-Terrorism investigations continue to ascertain or exclude any connections or in-person meetings with those responsible for the weekend of unrest in Milan. It is not excluded that the investigations will also have the aim of verifying a possible connection with the hackers of Noname057(16), a collective near Moscow that has repeatedly launched cyber attacks against Italian and Western companies and institutions in recent years. And Siher is also of interest to Genoese investigators, with the prosecutor's office investigating possible links between the researcher and the group arrested in the investigation of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate into the alleged financing of Hamas through a network of charities.