Austria to shut seven 'political mosques' and expel 60 imams

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 reenact-ing the World War I battle of Gallipoli

Austria could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families as part of a crackdown on "political Islam", Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said. "The circle of people possibly affected by these measures comprises around 60 imams," said Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party, the junior partner in Austria's coalition government.

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 reenact-ing 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.

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