ROME/PARIS, July 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Italy's parliament has given final approval to a package of anti-terror laws, one day after the interior minister of neighboring France pledged to introduce similar laws and expel hatred-inciting imams.

"We have before us a grave threat that must be faced with all the means of prevention and opposition that we have, and that we can acquire through this package," Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told parliament Saturday, July 30, reported Reuters.

The package, which was approved by the Senate a day earlier, includes new laws that make it easier for police to monitor phones and the Internet, deport foreigners considered a threat to security and grant residence to illegal immigrants who collaborate with investigators.

Those who hide their faces in public face up to two years in prison and a 2,000 euro ($2,424) fine.

The new legislations further make it illegal to prepare explosives or to train people to use them.

Police will be able to hold detainees up to 24 hours to confirm their identity, instead of 12.

They will also be allowed to take saliva samples for DNA tests from suspects under investigation. Previously, DNA tests could only be taken after charges had been brought.

The new anti-terror measures were drawn up after the London attacks and were approved by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition in a decree last week, but they needed parliament's backing to keep them in force.

Muslims in Italy started feeling the fallout from the London attacks with plainclothes officers raiding homes of imams, scouring every nook and cranny and downloading numbers from their cell phones looking for clues related to the bombings.

Pisanu had said that the government would try its best to reach out to moderate Italian Muslims, revealing that an umbrella Muslim organization would be established soon to be the representative face of the Muslim minority and to liaise with the government on their behalf.

There are an estimated 1.5 million Muslims in Italy, a country of about 58 million people.

Islam is the least represented of the monotheistic faiths in Rome’s corridors of power.

It is also not even officially recognized by the state, unlike Judaism, Buddhism and Protestant denominations.

"If imams erred or encouraged terror, they should stand a fair trial and defend himself just like other people," said Meskine.

Neighboring France is also set to adopt similar laws, triggering Muslim fears of restricting personal freedoms.

"Enacting new laws is not a cause of concern for Muslims as long as they are applied for all French citizens irrespective of their religion or ethnic backgrounds," Wanis Kirkah, professor of Islamic jurisprudence at the Paris-based European Institute for Humanities, told IslamOnline.net.

But he said that these new laws might be manipulated by right-wingers to fan hatred and discrimination against Muslims.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Le Parisian newspaper Friday he was planning to put forward new anti-terror measures authorizing eavesdropping on phone calls and archiving them for one year.

The mooted measures would also include installing more closed circuit TV cameras in underground stations and express trains.

Those coming into or leaving France to countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan would be placed under close scrutiny, Sarkozy said.

He added that police would also be given extra powers to expel more "radical" imams from the country, noting that dozens of "hatred-inciting" preachers would be deported in August under existing laws.

French authorities on Friday expelled Reda Ameuroud, an imam, to his native Algeria for reportedly encouraging violence in his sermons.

Last week, Ameuroud's compatriot Abdelhamid Aissaoui was also deported for the same reason.

Daw Meskine, the secretary general of the French Council of Imams, said judiciary should have the final say on such expulsions.

"It is unacceptable that the Interior Ministry expels imams without referring the matter first to court," he told IOL.

"If imams erred or encouraged terror, they should stand a fair trial and defend himself just like other people."

Several European countries have introduced extra police measures after the London bombs.

However, there remains opposition to this increased government intrusion into people's private lives.

In Denmark, a bill to increase police powers of surveillance was rejected by parliament.

In Sweden, which has far less video surveillance of public places than Britain, a recent study concluded that the current system works well and does not need to be expanded.