Austria court sentences ‘Islamic Nazis’ to prison for ISIS recruitment
The prosecutor called for tough sentences, declaring "Islamists are Islamic Nazis," according to a report in the mass-circulation paper Kronen Zeitung.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALA MEMBER of ISIS waves the group’s flag in Raqqa(photo credit: REUTERS)
A court in the Austrian city of Graz has convicted four Turkish-born Islamists of recruitment activities for ISIS.The prosecutor called for tough sentences, declaring “Islamists are Islamic Nazis,” according to a report in the widely- circulated paper Kronen Zeitung.He added that “We have to stop with false tolerance,” because basic state rights “are attacked” in these [Islamist] associations. The prosecutor blasted radical Islamic associations in which “Islamism supplants the rule of law if we are not careful.”After 10 days of judicial hearings, the court in Graz, the capital of the Styria state, sentenced an imam to seven years in prison on Thursday. The 47-yearold Muslim preacher was charged with recruiting a number of young men to join the Islamic State.According to Kronen, the defense attorney for the imam argued that “there is no evidence” that the preacher recruited and radicalized men to fight for the Islamic State.The attorney said the preacher warned others against fighting for the terrorist group.The court sentenced three additional Islamists to penalties ranging from five months to six years for their roles in the terrorist recruitment process. Two men were acquitted.The convicted men can appeal the verdicts. One of the Islamists purchased a rifle scope for a Kalashnikov and sent it to his brother – an ISIS sniper.The defense attorney said it was “a mistake” because his client did not know what his brother needed it for. “He will not have used it as a paperweight,” the prosecutor said.