The law courts in Tudela (Navarra) have issued a court order against a Moroccan, forbidding him from approaching within ten metres of Catholic buildings.

The man had been arrested on Friday the 9th, suspected of starting a fire in a church in Fontellas by setting light to three statues of the Virgin.

He was charged, brought before a magistrate, where he said that he did not repent his actions, and released pending trial. In fact, he assured the judge that he had carried out the act in order to secure a place in Islam’s version of Heaven.

The arson attack occurred on the Thursday of the same week when he allegedly entered the church in Fontellas, gaining entrance via the roof. Once in side, he reportedly – he doesn’t deny it – set light to three figures the Virgin Mary before escaping.

Whilst fleeing the scene, he was spotted by a local who informed the police. He managed, however, to escape on a bicycle to nearby Tudela.

He was arrested in Tudela for a completely different offence; he had climbed onto somebody’s balcony and ripped down the bunting that hung across the street for medieval fair that was soon to take place. Apparently, he had confused the bunting with religious symbols. Perhaps not the sharpest tool in the shed…

The police who arrested him in Tudela hadn’t realized that the Fontella police were searching for him over the fire in the church there. He was charged and released but the next day he was nabbed for the Fontella incident.

As stated before, he far from denied having caused the fire. In fact, he even confessed to a similar incident during the summer; somebody had entered the church Ribaforada, and yanked off a cross in the hand of a statue and destroyed several religious books.

Finally, it appears that he had become ‘radicalized’ whilst spending his summer holidays back in Morocco.

(News: Tudela, Navarra)