Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

TERRORISM

Imam arrested in Graz on terrorism charges

A Muslim cleric has been arrested in Graz on suspicion of forming a terrorist organization.

Published: 5 June 2014 10:35 CEST

Imam arrested in Graz on terrorism charges

Man in handcuffs. File photo: APA

The state prosecutor has confirmed that the arrest happened on Monday, according to a report in the news magazine Profil.

Police spokesman Hans Jörg Bacher said a 41-year-old Imam of Chechen origin was taken to Graz-Jakomini prison on Wednesday. The investigating judge is due to decide today whether the man should be released before trial.

His arrest followed two police searches in places of Muslim worship in late April, during which documents and media were confiscated, which implicated the cleric.

According to the Profil report the man is alleged to have been involved in radicalising at least eight young Chechens living in Styria, and persuaded them to fight in Syria.

Four of these men, who joined the Al-Nusra Front (a branch of Al-Qaeda operating in Syria), are already dead. The Al-Nusra Front is classified as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council.

Mehdi Nemmouche, the Frenchman being held over a fatal shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, is also connected to the Al-Nusra Front, according to Profil.

Austria is considering withdrawing Austrian citizenship or asylum status from people who go to fight in Syria or other foreign wars, so long as they have an alternative nationality they can assume.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

What is the risk of new terror attacks in Austria?

With responsibility for the Moscow attack being taken by the Islamist terror organisation ISIS-K, national intelligence services are reevaluating the threat posed to targets within their borders.

‘No concrete threat’

Austrian officials have been quick to give their appraisal of the situation.

“We currently have the Islamist scene under control,” stressed Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the Directorate of State Security & Intelligence (DSN) – the governmental agency responsible for combatting internal threats – in an interview with the Ö1 Morgenjournal radio programme on Tuesday.

He continued: “The terrorist attacks in Moscow, for example, definitely increase the risk. But at the moment, we do not see any concrete threat of an attack in Austria,”

Other experts and officials have warned that while there are no concrete threats, Austrians should not be complacent.

‘Situation is still valid’

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced tighter security at church festivals during the Easter period, in the days after the attack, and stressed that the high terror alert level introduced after the October 7 Hamas attacks was still in place.

“This increased risk situation is still valid,” noted Karner.

READ MORE: What does Austria’s raised terror alert mean for the public?

Meanwhile, terror researcher Peter Neumann of King’s College London told ORF’s ‘ZiB 2’ news broadcast on Monday that Austria remains a potential target due to its Central Asian migrant population.

Neumann noted that countries at most risk are those “in which Tajik and Central Asian diasporas exist and where ISIS-K finds it relatively easy to identify and recruit people”.

He continued, identifying both Austria and Germany as “countries in which the ISPK is particularly active and which are particularly at risk from terrorist attacks”.

New threats

Austria has not been spared from attacks from homegrown terrorists.

On November 2nd 2020, amid Coronavirus lockdowns, Austrian-born Kujtim Fejzulai shot and killed four, injuring twenty-three others during a shooting spree across Vienna. He was ultimately shot dead by police.

Fejzulai was already under surveillance by federal authorities for his beliefs and had been released from prison on parole less than a year before.

Url copied to clipboard!