Milan, Youssef Siher arrested: police identify organiser of street movements
The postal police have traced the 30-year-old suspected of organising the October gatherings through digital tracking and intelligence. He is under investigation for incitement with terrorist purposes.
Intelligence operation in Milan's outskirts
According to milanotoday.it, Youssef Siher, 30 years old and originally from the province of Brescia, was located in an apartment on the outskirts of Milan on Saturday morning 24 October. State police officers caught him whilst staying as a guest of a friend. The arrest followed an operation conducted by the postal police and coordinated with security apparatus.
Siher is under investigation for incitement to commit a crime aggravated by terrorist purposes and for organised violence in public demonstrations. The measure was issued by the anti-terrorism district section of the Milan prosecutor's office. His wife is also under investigation with free movement for offences of the same type.
His role on the social platform
The man is considered the alleged organiser and administrator of the "October 17 Movement", a group on Instagram used to organise improvised youth processions in major Italian cities around that date. The postal police initiated technical investigations immediately after the events of 17 and 18 October, activating digital interceptions and contacting Meta to monitor the page's account.
Aisi's contribution
The computing investigations were supported by the work of the Internal Information and Security Agency (Aisi). Siher's profile was already under attention from the intelligence services for other monitoring activities, not directly connected to the street demonstrations. A task force established by director Bruno Valensise cross-referenced the intelligence data and sent a formal notification to the public security apparatus that were tracking the social group.
Analysis of the Instagram account combined with the Aisi intelligence report made it possible to narrow the focus onto the 30-year-old.
Profile and background
Siher works as a freelance journalist and has collaborated with Il Fatto Quotidiano. He has an academic background: a graduate of the Salò scientific secondary school (Brescia), degree in Humanities for Communication and a postgraduate student in Political Sciences at the State University of Milan. The Ispi Middle East and North Africa Observatory clarifies that Siher completed an internship in 2024 and, since then, has not collaborated further with the institute.
He is a native speaker of Arabic and Italian, fluently speaks English and Spanish. His research interests include political Islam, Islamic political movements and the relationship between Islam and Arab nationalism.
Investigative elements
Investigations are continuing on the computing devices to reconstruct the network of contacts of the person under investigation. Investigators are examining certain messages published on social media profiles. On 7 October 2023 he allegedly commented on posts by Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani with the text "Allahu Akbar" and hearts in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
In a 2023 video published on Youtube, Siher introduces himself as a freelance journalist and pro-Palestine activist invited to speak about iftar. In the past he has also worked as a delivery courier for Glovo.
Source: Google News IT — Crime (it)