Muhammad Hafiz Zulkifal

Muhammad Hafiz Zulkifal was born in Swabi, Pakistan, on September 29, 1972. He moved to Italy in 1998 and was granted a residence permit. At the time of the police investigations, he was living in Verdellino (Bergamo) alongside his wife and eight children. Over the years, he managed several businesses, selling undergarments and jewellery in Correggio, Cagliari and Civitanova. However, he was primarily known as the Imam of Zingonia, Bergamo, Brescia and Carpi. In Pakistan, Zulkifal studied at the madrasa of Chakwal, which was linked to the terrorist association Laskar-E-Jiangvi, and he was the exponent of the Tabligh movement in Italy.
In August 2005, the Italian police checked a car driven by Zulkifal at Olbia port and found over €20,000 in cash and a document in Urdu linked to Khatm-E-Nubuwwat, a radical organisation. During questioning, Zulkifal mentioned having visited Sultan Wali Khan, prompting police to search Khan’s residence and business in Olbia, where an agenda containing a sentence that evoked symbols used by the Taliban was found. As a result, Zulkifal and Khan were charged under Article 270 bis of the Italian Penal Code, but the case was archived a year later due to lack of evidence. In 2009, the investigation was reopened, with the authorities resuming wiretaps. By April 2010, Zulkifal was once again listed as a suspect. Zulkifal was arrested in April 2015. He was accused of being the religious leader of a terrorist network close to al-Qaeda and other jihadist organisations, operating between Olbia and Rome. Twenty-one other people were charged with similar offences.
Alongside Sultan Wali Khan, Niaz Mir, and Yahya Khan Ridi, he was charged with terrorist association according to Article 270 bis, and Law 4 of March 16, 2006, no. 146. According to court documents, Zulkifal and the others were part of a transnational terrorist organisation responsible for seven attacks on infrastructures and high-profile figures in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009 and 2011 with the aim of forcing the government to stop fighting Talibans while financing the terrorist groups Theerek-E-Taliban and Theerek-E-Nifaz-E-Sharia-E-Mohammadi. In particular, the prosecution accused Zulkifal of using his position as an imam to engage in religious and radical propaganda, indoctrinating followers for martyrdom. He was also accused of collecting funds from the Pakistan-Afghan communities in northern Sardinia, Lazio and Marche and while these funds were purportedly for humanitarian causes, they were allegedly used to finance terrorism. The prosecution claimed that Zulkifal was involved in ensuring these funds were used to finance military training for jihadist groups, as evidence showed him giving instruction to other people. The fundraising was also linked to a job ordered by Zulkifal to have a former Pakistani Interior Minister beaten.
Court records indicate that Zulkifal was involved in two other fundraising efforts, one in 2009 and another one in 2011, both involving the financing of madrasas. In 2009, he agreed to donate a portion of the zakat to support a Taliban-oriented madrasa in Pakistan headed by Muhammad Siddique’s brother. This collaboration included other key figures like Muhammad Siddique, Sultan Wali Khan, Ali Mushtaq, and Sher Khan. The second fundraising was aimed at constructing a mosque intended for recruiting mujaheddin, with Zulkifal leading the collection of money in Sardinia, while Abdur Raud managed the collection in Rome. The initiative was part of a broader plan decided in 2010 in Pisa, with contributions solicited from Pakistani shop owners. Although the prosecution suggested these funds might have been intended to support terrorist activities, the evidence presented was not conclusive. There was no concrete proof that the money went to terrorist organisations once it arrived in Pakistan, as there was no evidence that is was used for anything other than legitimate purposes.
Muhammad Hafiz Zulkifal was also a central figure in coordinating a terrorist act planned by the Olbia cell in Italy in 2010. The plan involved bringing a Pakistani man to Italy to carry out a suicide bombing, and Zulkifal was responsible for overseeing the operation. However, Italian police initiated searches, which caused concern among the defendants, including Zulkifal, about the presence of a suicide bomber and other illegal immigrants linked to the plot. This led to the hiding of these individuals. In 2011, Zulkifal continued to be linked to various terrorist activities, including planning attacks and organising the assassination of three people. Moreover, in November 2011, while returning from Saudi Arabia, he received an SMS detailing a series of terrorist attacks that had occurred in Pakistan.
According to the prosecution, Zulkifal had also strong connections to terrorist organisations, particularly Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He and his associates were involved in promoting radical Islamist ideology, often through social media, where he shared content glorifying martyrdom, jihad, and the activities of fundamentalist groups like Sepah-e-Sahaba. Zulkifal, along with his brother Amir Noor Ul, frequently called for jihad and praised terrorists who died in attacks, using these platforms for proselytism. In addition to his online activities, Zulkifal was implicated in the planning and execution of violent acts. In conversations between February and May 2011, he and his brother reportedly ordered the assassination of two individuals who had violated Sharia law. These acts were documented and shared among a small group, serving as religious propaganda. His adherence to Wahhabism and his belief in the supremacy of Sharia over secular law were central to his justification of these violent acts, which he portrayed as fulfilling a divine mandate. Zulkifal was also in contact with Fahi El Amrani and Boumezgane Larbi, two leaders of the Tabligh movement.
In April 2019, the Assize Court of Sassari, which was handling the case, advised proceeding separately for Muhammad Hafiz Zulkifal. In the meantime, in October 2019, he was repatriated to Pakistan. The Court of Assizes in Sassari returned the case to the prosecutor to formulate new charges. Although there was evidence related to alleged activities of financing and connecting with terrorist groups, Zulkifal was not part of the terrorist organisation for which he was initially being tried. In the retrial, the prosecutor did not change the charges against Muhammad Hafiz Zulkifal, and in March 2022, the Assize Court of Sassari declared that there was no case to answer, meaning there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case.
However, in March 2024, the Court of Cassation dismissed the previous sentences, and a new trial began in September 2024 on the same charge of terrorist participation.