Italian activist murdered in Gaza

"Stay human" - leads Il Manifesto, reprising the phrase that Italian pro-Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni used to sign off on his blogs. Arrigoni, 36, was taken hostage in the Gaza strip on 14 April by a group of Salafist radicals - Islamists in conflict with Hamas. His body was later found hanged in a Gaza City house. The group had threatened to execute the activist if Hamas did not release its leader from jail. A video was posted on YouTube of Arrigoni apparently beaten and his eyes covered with thick black tape. The communist daily, for whom Arrigoni wrote, recalls that he was the only Italian in Gaza during Israel's 2008 Operation Cast Lead bombing campaign. “Vittorio Arrigoni didn’t deserve to be used as a bargaining chip, he always believed in the dignity of every person, anywhere in the world, beginning with Palestinians. We can only turn to his captors his everlasting exhortation.”