Letters
Letters to the editor •
How, in the case of Siher, the focus shifted from the facts to the sentence
Who wrote to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
31 OCT 26
Translated by AI
Youssef Siher is released from San Vittore prison on 28 October 2026 (photo by Paolo Salmoirago for Ansa)
To the Editor – Following the street clashes on 17 and 18 October, Youssef Siher is reported to have circulated the handbook “Rivoluzione, istruzioni per l’uso”. According to several news outlets, the document contained the following sentence: “If the security forces prevent us from continuing the march, let us shout our slogans and try to break through their barricades”. The public prosecutor interpreted this as incitement to further violence, but the investigating judge rejected the request for pre-trial detention, noting, according to media reports, that the clashes had already taken place. I certainly do not claim to have exhausted, in this way, the assessment of the entire 37-page order, but I shall focus solely on this point: the incitement contested by the public prosecutor did not concern the ‘clashes’ that had already ended, but the ‘clashes’ that those words might have provoked. One might wonder whether the very acts of violence that had just taken place might not have given the call to ‘break through the barricades’ the specific meaning of repeating what had already happened. The Court of Cassation has held that the capacity of a message to incite the commission of offences must be assessed by also taking into account the context, the intended audience and preceding events. It is therefore not enough to read those words in isolation: they must be read within the specific context in which they were disseminated. Now then, could the previous clashes not, therefore, have reinforced – rather than ruled out – the call’s capacity to incite further violence? Siher remains presumed innocent, and it is for the judge alone to assess all the evidence. However, respect for this principle and for the judge’s assessment does not prevent us from discussing a point which strikes me as logically weak: the fact that the violence had already taken place two days earlier does not, in itself, explain why that call could not have encouraged further violence.
Rodrigo Merlo, retired magistrate
This, too, strikes me as an important point. The precautionary measures imposed on Youssef Siher – measures that are, quite frankly, excessive, as we have been reporting from the outset in Il Foglio – have had the effect of shifting the focus away from a key issue: from what he did to what has been inflicted upon him. If you impose a measure that is disproportionate to the offence with which he is charged, the offence itself disappears and only the measure remains. Perhaps, if instead of detention another course of action had been chosen – as suggested yesterday in these pages by Guido Salvini, namely a preventive measure involving certain restrictions, some of them stringent, but not detention, not imprisonment – it might have been possible to take into account a not insignificant point: that his communications might have contained incitement to commit future offences. Next time, perhaps, a way will be found to adopt measures that are fair and not designed solely to make the headlines.
* * *
To the Editor – The membership base of the Union of Grassroots Trade Unions (USB) is incomparable to that of the CGIL. The same applies to its bargaining power in industrial relations (it carries some weight only in the public sector). However, as demonstrated by yesterday’s general strike and the one two years ago in support of the Palestinian people, its ability to mobilise the streets is by no means negligible: on the contrary, it rivals that of the majority confederation. The reason is simple: trade union slogans, political slogans and value systems (anti-capitalism and ethical pacifism) are now virtually identical. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the USB is establishing itself as a formidable rival to Maurizio Landini within the sphere of ‘conflictual dissent’ – social centres, activists, student collectives, pro-Palestinian movements and radical left-wing groups. “Quia ventum seminabunt, et turbinem metent” (“For they shall sow the wind, and shall reap the whirlwind”, Book of Hosea, verse 8:7).
Michele Magno
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To the Editor – Dear Editor, having followed this project from the outset – which has already seen the publication of 24 fact sheets on Judaism, drawn up in collaboration with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities – I would like to comment on the similar fact sheets on Islam, published by the CEI and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), a few days after their presentation at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See.
I have, in fact, noted in some commentaries a clear misrepresentation, if not a complete distortion, of the meaning and objectives of this initiative, which – in the pages of your newspaper – has even been portrayed as the transformation of religious education lessons into lessons on Islamisation. A few clarifications will be useful for anyone wishing to look beyond this fake news. The first concerns the subject we are discussing. The fact sheets on Judaism and Islam are a resource designed for authors of school textbooks on the teaching of the Catholic religion (IRC), so that, when drafting their texts, they may draw on authoritative and reliable sources, thereby avoiding the simplifications or inaccuracies that are always a risk. It goes without saying that the quality of the material makes the fact sheets useful also to anyone wishing to explore these topics in greater depth for their own personal education and cultural enrichment. This is why the fact sheets are made available to everyone and why institutions and editors – Catholics and Jews for the former, Catholics and Muslims for the latter – who are among the leading experts in the field are involved.
But does this mean that the teaching of the Catholic religion in schools also covers other religions? Yes, and this is not a recent development. The 2012 teaching guidelines for Catholic Religious Education (IRC) – adopted by decree of the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Minister of Education, following consultation with the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), which guarantees their conformity with the doctrine of the Catholic Church – also include objectives such as ‘understanding the origins and development of Christianity and the other major religions, identifying the most important aspects of interreligious dialogue’ (First stage of education) and “to assess the ever-relevant contribution of the Christian tradition to the development of human civilisation, including in dialogue with other cultural and religious traditions” (Second stage). But these are just a few of the topics covered; there are many more. To give just a few examples, the same document also calls for “building a free and responsible identity, asking questions of meaning in light of the contents of the Gospel message according to the tradition of the Church” and “assessing the religious dimension of human life, starting from a knowledge of the Bible and the person of Jesus Christ, whilst recognising the meaning and significance of Christian religious language”. No Islamisation, then.
A final, pertinent clarification concerns the CEI’s views on the teaching of the Catholic faith in schools. To understand this, one need only leaf through the document published in December 2025, entitled: “L’insegnamento della religione cattolica: laboratorio di cultura e dialogo”, in which the Italian bishops reaffirm the relevance of this subject for the present day, in accordance with the framework derived from the Concordat, noting that “it is the task of Catholic Religious Education (IRC) to foster knowledge of the Bible through frequent reading of its pages, so as to familiarise pupils with its main characters and with the episodes of the history of salvation, whilst always bearing in mind that the central core of all Scripture remains the figure of Jesus Christ, who must be known in his precise historical and theological identity”. It is therefore hoped that any remaining doubts regarding the nature and practice of Catholic religious education have been dispelled, an initiative that sees over 20,000 teachers—the vast majority of whom are laypeople—entering classrooms every day with great competence, motivation and a passion for education. With best regards.
I have, in fact, noted in some commentaries a clear misrepresentation, if not a complete distortion, of the meaning and objectives of this initiative, which – in the pages of your newspaper – has even been portrayed as the transformation of religious education lessons into lessons on Islamisation. A few clarifications will be useful for anyone wishing to look beyond this fake news. The first concerns the subject we are discussing. The fact sheets on Judaism and Islam are a resource designed for authors of school textbooks on the teaching of the Catholic religion (IRC), so that, when drafting their texts, they may draw on authoritative and reliable sources, thereby avoiding the simplifications or inaccuracies that are always a risk. It goes without saying that the quality of the material makes the fact sheets useful also to anyone wishing to explore these topics in greater depth for their own personal education and cultural enrichment. This is why the fact sheets are made available to everyone and why institutions and editors – Catholics and Jews for the former, Catholics and Muslims for the latter – who are among the leading experts in the field are involved.
But does this mean that the teaching of the Catholic religion in schools also covers other religions? Yes, and this is not a recent development. The 2012 teaching guidelines for Catholic Religious Education (IRC) – adopted by decree of the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Minister of Education, following consultation with the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), which guarantees their conformity with the doctrine of the Catholic Church – also include objectives such as ‘understanding the origins and development of Christianity and the other major religions, identifying the most important aspects of interreligious dialogue’ (First stage of education) and “to assess the ever-relevant contribution of the Christian tradition to the development of human civilisation, including in dialogue with other cultural and religious traditions” (Second stage). But these are just a few of the topics covered; there are many more. To give just a few examples, the same document also calls for “building a free and responsible identity, asking questions of meaning in light of the contents of the Gospel message according to the tradition of the Church” and “assessing the religious dimension of human life, starting from a knowledge of the Bible and the person of Jesus Christ, whilst recognising the meaning and significance of Christian religious language”. No Islamisation, then.
A final, pertinent clarification concerns the CEI’s views on the teaching of the Catholic faith in schools. To understand this, one need only leaf through the document published in December 2025, entitled: “L’insegnamento della religione cattolica: laboratorio di cultura e dialogo”, in which the Italian bishops reaffirm the relevance of this subject for the present day, in accordance with the framework derived from the Concordat, noting that “it is the task of Catholic Religious Education (IRC) to foster knowledge of the Bible through frequent reading of its pages, so as to familiarise pupils with its main characters and with the episodes of the history of salvation, whilst always bearing in mind that the central core of all Scripture remains the figure of Jesus Christ, who must be known in his precise historical and theological identity”. It is therefore hoped that any remaining doubts regarding the nature and practice of Catholic religious education have been dispelled, an initiative that sees over 20,000 teachers—the vast majority of whom are laypeople—entering classrooms every day with great competence, motivation and a passion for education. With best regards.
Ernesto Diaco, former head of the CEI’s National Service for the Teaching of the Catholic Faith