Austria to expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams, shuts 7 mosques

Austria could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families as part of a crackdown on "political Islam", the country’s Interior Minister has said.


"The circle of people possibly affected by these measures - the pool that we're talking about - comprises around 60 imams," said Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the junior partner in Austria's coalition government.

In total 150 people risked losing their right to residence, he said at a press conference in Vienna.

Seven mosques will also be shut after an investigation by the religious affairs authority into images which emerged in April of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli.

"Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation have no place in our country," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the ruling centre-right People's Party said.
 (RTE)
 8/7/18