Italian anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday cross-examined a Libyan researcher suspected of supporting the Islamic State militant group, quizzing her over five mobile phones and eight SIM cards seized by police.
Prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Palermo, where Khadiga Shabbi holds a university research post, said they would request her arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of instigating international terrorism.
Police investigators allegedly found jihadist Facebook posts by the 45-year-old Bengasi native and established she was in contact with various IS-linked extremist groups in Libya and expressed support for an Islamic state.
Shabbi was in contact with at least two foreign fighters - one in Belgium, the other in Britain - and produced propaganda for Al-Qaeda on the Internet, according to evidence gleaned after months of surveillance.
She also allegedly sent money to Turkey and tried to bring her cousin to Italy, but he died in a gun fight in Libya, according to investigators.
Shabbi has lived in Palermo for the past three years on a 2,000 euro per month salary from the Libyan embassy.
She denies supporting extremist Islamic groups and says she wants to remain in Palermo, where she is researching methods on hospital administration in Libya.
