Following the terrorist attack in Vienna earlier this week, the Austrian government has raided and dissolved two radical mosques linked to radical Islam.
Culture Minister Susanne Raab and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer announced the closure of the mosques on Friday, one of which is said to have contributed to the radicalisation of the Vienna gunman who killed four people on Monday.
Minister Raab defended the closures stating, “It is not an attack against the members of a religious community, but it is a common fight against the abuse of a religion by radicals.”
According to a report from newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the gunman was active in two mosques in the Austrian capital.
The first, the Tewhid Mosque located in the district of Meidling, was raided Friday morning by police and the Vienna special police unit WEGA but so far no information has been released regarding possible arrests made during the raid.
The mosque was under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Religious Community (IGGÖ), the largest Islamic community organisation in Austria. The group has been criticised int he past for its connections to Turkey and alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The IGGÖ, meanwhile, have condemned the Vienna terrorist attack, and its president, Ümit Vural stated: “This is an ideology that approves of violence, that dehumanises and which we deeply reject.”
The Melit Ibrahim Mosque, located in the district of Ottakring, was also dissolved, according to Raab, and is believed to have played a part in the radicalisation of the Vienna terrorist.
According to Kronen Zeitung, the mosque was also attended regularly by Albanian-born Lorzenz K., who was sentenced to nine years in prison after his arrest in 2017 for plotting a terrorist attack and being a member of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Lorenz K. was back in court in September of this year after he had threatened to behead a fellow inmate who he stated was not a real Muslim.