Austrian
Muslim Cleric Hate
Imam,
Three Others
Convicted of ISIS Recruiting
21
Oct 2019
Breitbart
Four Turkish-born men, including an imam,
have been convicted of recruiting for the Islamic State in Graz, the
capital
city of the Austrian state of Styria.
A 47-year-old imam from Turkey was sentenced
to seven years in prison for recruiting “a number of young men” to
join ISIS, reports The
Jerusalem
Post. Three other men were given sentences ranging
between five months and six years for their roles in the recruiting
process.
The prosecutor in the case called for strict
punishment of the convicted Islamists, saying in comments reported by Kronen Zeitung:
“Islamists
are Islamic Nazis.”
He
went on to
say that “We have to stop with false tolerance” and that “Islamism
supplants
the rule of law if we are not careful”.
One
of the
convicted men had sent an AK47 rifle scope from Austria to his
brother, who is
an Islamic State sniper. The man’s attorney said that it was a
“mistake”, claiming
that he did not know what his brother needed it for.
The
prosecutor
had remarked in response: “He will not have used it as a paperweight.”
Austrians are increasingly concerned over the
issue of Islam in their country. A recent study found
that 70 per cent of Austrians
believed that Islam was not compatible with the West. The study also
found that
59 per cent were afraid of Muslims in Austria being terrorists and 79
per cent
felt that police should closely monitor Muslim areas of the country.
Earlier this year, an Austrian intelligence report stated
that Islamic extremism was
still the country’s top security threat. The report found that at
least 320
people from Austria had travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight for
Islamist terror
groups, 93 of whom are believed to have returned to Austria.