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Italian Student, 23, To Be Freed From Moroccan Jail After Insulting Islam In FB Post

A young Italian-Moroccan woman who has been in prison in Marrakesh since June for offending Islam in a Facebook post will soon be freed following diplomatic talks between the two countries.

Enzo Amendola, 47, European Affairs Undersecretary, said that Ikram Nazih, will be released soon following a series of diplomatic talks with his counterparts in Morocco.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, 35, thanked Amendola for his hard work in Nazih’s case.

Ikram Nazih, 23, an Italo-Moroccan woman who has been serving a prison sentence for offending Islam in Marrakesh, Marroco since June. (@amendolaenzo/Newsflash)

The Italian-Moroccan woman was imprisoned in Morocco at the end of June for insulting Islam in a 2019 Facebook post where she reportedly shared a satirical cartoon and referred to a Quran verse obliging devotees to sacrifice as “the whisky verse”.

Following a hearing on Monday, Amendola said Nazih will soon be released from jail and thanked his Moroccan counterparts for their efforts.

With regards to the 23-year-old prisoner, he added: “Our co-national is well, and I send her and her family my best wishes.”

Twitter post from Italian diplomacy and European Affairs Undersecretary Enzo Amendola, who shared the news that Ikram Nazih will be released from prison. (@amendolaenzo/Newsflash)

Amendola said Armando Barucco, the Italian Ambassador in the Moroccan capital Rabat, helped with the case along with the Italian foreign minister.

In his tweet, Amendola said he started to personally follow the 23-year-old woman’s case earlier this month and visited her in prison after speaking to interested parties.

He also said that “solid relations between Italy and Morocco continue, the fruit of a strategic partnership”.

Facebook post from the Foreign Minister of Italy Luigi Di Maio who announced that Ikram Nazih is released from prison. (@LuigiDiMaio/Newsflash)

Nazih was arrested at the airport in Marrakesh on 20th June when she arrived from the French city of Marseilles, where she studied law at university, to visit family members.

Nazih, who was born in 1998 near Milan and grew up in Monza Province, was jailed for a Facebook post from 2019 and convicted of publicly insulting Islam in June this year.

A date for her return to Italy has yet to be set.

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