Austria to Ban 'Political Islam' in Wake of Europe Terror Attacks
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Wednesday that his government will be creating new laws to prosecute those who propagate political Islamic ideologies.
The Austrian leader took to Twitter to announce Wednesday that the government would be creating a new criminal offence called “political Islam” to prosecute those who “create a breeding ground” for radical Islamic terrorism.
“In the fight against political Islam, we will create a criminal offence called ‘political Islam’ in order to be able to take action against those who are not terrorists themselves, but who create the breeding ground for it,” Kurz said.
Austria: Mosques Dissolved, Raided After Radical Islamic Terror Attack https://t.co/5p9FZyV0E6
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 8, 2020
In a subsequent Tweet, the Austrian chancellor said that there could be further closures of radical mosques, the introduction of a register for imams, and said that “measures will be taken to drain financial flows for terrorist financing.”
The move comes after Kurz called on the European Union to combat the problem of radical Islamic ideologies following last week’s terrorist attack in Vienna that saw the deaths of four people killed by a radical Islamic gunman in the heart of the Austrian capital.
“Now, it is important that we resolutely continue the fight. Not only against Islamist terrorism but also against the ideological basis behind it — that is, against political Islam and radical Islamism,” Kurz said last week.
“The European Union must lead the fight against Islamist terrorism, but especially against the political base behind it — that is to say, political Islam, with all determination and unity,” he added.
Kurz also met with French President Emmanuel Macron this week to discuss cooperation between the two countries on tackling radical Islamic ideologies. Both leaders linked illegal migration flows to recent terrorist attacks.
‘Thousands of Foreign Fighters in EU’: Kurz and Macron Meet Over Fight Against Political Islam https://t.co/Ya8EJPJJde
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 11, 2020
“We must not confuse the fight against illegal immigration with terrorism, but we must look clearly at the links between these two phenomena,” President Macron said Tuesday.
Macron has called on European Union leaders to reform the internal open-border Schengen agreement to make the political bloc safer, saying, “Public opinion in states facing the terrorist threat will not be able to accept the maintenance of our open borders for long if we do not fundamentally reform the Schengen area.”