Brotherhood included in new Austrian anti-terror law

Austria has adopted new penalties against the promotion of extremist groups, including those with links to “religiously motivated crimes”.

The new federal law prohibits the use of symbols representing ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Grey Wolves, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Hezbollah’s military wing, the Croatian fascist Ustasha movement and all other entities that are listed by the EU as terrorist groups.

The authorities also gained powers to exclude people from the vicinity of an environment that contributed to their radicalisation.

Companies and institutions will have to submit and verify their accounts to comply with a ban on the domestic financing of extremists.

Dual citizens can be stripped of their Austrian nationality and convicted criminals can lose their driving licence.

The new powers were drawn up in response to an attack in November by an ISIS sympathiser who killed four people in Vienna.

Austria’s Interior Ministry was strongly criticised for having failed to monitor the gunman who carried out the attack, despite warnings about his activities.

The authorities knew he had been in contact with extremists from neighbouring countries and had tried to buy ammunition in Slovakia.

Austria has nine million citizens and a high number of ISIS sympathisers. An estimated 150 people are known to have returned there after fighting for the terrorist organisation in Syria or Iraq. The EU state also has a long-established Muslim Brotherhood presence.

After a surveillance operation that clocked up 21,000 hours, security agents carried out a series of raids under the direction of the Graz Public Prosecutor’s Office last year.

Investigators said they were “carrying out investigations against more than 70 suspects and against several associations, which are suspected of belonging to and supporting the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas organisations”.

During the raids an “enemies list” of opponents of political Islam was found, forcing people into hiding.