The murder and beheading of a 19-year-old Egyptian hairdresser for seeking a better job shakes Italy

Mahmoud Abdalla, 19, had arrived in Italy from Egypt as an unaccompanied minor a couple of years ago and dreamed of becoming a hairdresser and helping his family in the African country. He worked as an apprentice in a hairdresser in the province of Genoa run by compatriots. Clients appreciated his style and asked that, of all hairdressers, he take care of their hairstyles. But the salary was low, the hours of work, always standing, were too many and he had decided to look for better working conditions. He had found another barbershop that offered him a more convenient contract and he was leaving his previous job.

But he couldn’t reach his goals. His body has appeared this week in the sea, mutilated and decapitated. The owner of the hair salon, Abdelwahab Ahmed, and another employee, Mohamed Abdelghani, have confessed to the crime. They feared that by leaving, Mahmoud would take the customers. The young men, aged 26 and 27, are charged with aggravated voluntary manslaughter for futile motives and destruction of the body. According to the prosecutor in the case, they are “highly dangerous” and can destroy evidence, since at first they tried to convince the police that it was an accident.

Investigators have confirmed that Abdalla wanted to change jobs due to the poor conditions in which he worked. They have concluded, after listening to various witnesses, that the young Egyptian entered, together with his murderers, the apartment in the Genoese neighborhood of Sestri Ponente, which he shared with other employees of the hairdresser. According to the reconstructions, once in the house, the boy, despite threats from his bosses, reiterated his desire to change jobs. It was then that the two, according to the Italian press, attacked him with a knife and an awl. Then they put his body in a suitcase and took it by taxi to near the mouth of the Entella River. There they dismembered his body, cutting off his head and hands, and then threw the remains into the sea.

The case has shaken Italy due to the connotations it hides about precariousness in the labor market and immigration. “Killed because he wanted to change jobs” is the most repeated headline in the Italian press. Some media, like Il Corriere della Sera They point out that the murdered young man had told the police that his bosses exploited him and that he worked without a contract.

Videos to appreciate your talent

The owner of the new barbershop in which Mahmoud wanted to start working had posted some videos on Instagram in which the boy was seen during a test and in which his talent could be appreciated. The man explained that when the young man had already left, the two detainees entered his business and showed their opposition to letting Mahmoud go, because his resignation would have made them lose customers. He has also revealed that he received a threatening call, warning him not to hire him.

The crime has shocked the local Muslim community. “We pray for Mahmoud a collective prayer with some of his friends who are all very sad and angry. Our law prohibits disfiguring a deceased, it is an offense to him and his relatives. What happened is terrible and also for something so trivial”, declared the representative of the Muslims of Genoa, Hussein Salah.

Italy has certain labor problems, such as inadequate wages in some fields or irregular work. According to the National Institute of Statistics, in Italy there are about 3 million workers who receive their wages irregularly and the underground economy exceeds 10% of GDP.

Debate on the minimum wage

Italy is debating these weeks on the implementation of the minimum wage: it is one of the few European countries that does not have one. The opposition asks that this be nine euros an hour, but the Government rejects this proposal.

The exploitation of workers in the agricultural sector —although not only—, where the majority are immigrants, is another phenomenon that affects the entire country, despite the fact that it has been considered a crime since 2011, punishable since 2016 with sentences of up to six years. from prison. The unions calculate that it affects more than half a million workers and only in the field it moves close to 5,000 million euros, with tax evasion worth 1,800 million.

Various reception cooperatives that help immigrants find housing and employment or study, such as those that assisted Mahmoud when he arrived in Italy as an unaccompanied minor, have denounced society’s indifference to these cases, in which precariousness and immigration go hand in hand. “He was a boy who deserved a different future. The real question we should be asking ourselves as a society is whether we are doing enough; I don’t think so, and at all levels, I just hope that the time will come when we give due importance to these young people who are looking for a better future”, said Marco Montoli, president of the immigrant reception cooperative “il Ce.Sto”.

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