Austria's probe on Brotherhood leads to Hamas

After16 months, investigations are still underway in Austria, as prosecutors found new leads proving Muslim Brotherhood involvement in forming terrorist association and financing terror.

The case events go back to November 9, 2020 when the Austrian police raided the homes of known members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been proven to have received foreign financial backing to promote their extremist views.

Among the offenses are forming a terrorist association, financing of terrorism and money laundering. The raids took place in the Styria, Carinthia, Lower Austria and Vienna regions.

The results of the year-long terrorism probe have so far revealed that "the Muslim Brotherhood is a globally active, radical Islamist, extremely anti-Semitic organization," the prosecutors said.

They also charged the Muslim Brotherhood with trying to "set up an Islamic state on the basis of Islamic law in all countries on Earth" and for maintaining ties to "terrorist organizations" such as Hamas.

Although Austria is still the only country in Europe to have granted official status to Islam, it has become the first European country to ban the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood under the new anti-terrorism law adopted by the Austrian Parliament on 8 July 2021.

The Brotherhood thus appears on the blacklist of organizations linked to ‘religiously motivated crime’. Austria now prohibits the possession and dissemination of such organizations' slogans and literature, punishable by a fine of EUR 4 000 and one month in prison.

Experts consider Austria’s move against the Muslim Brotherhood organization as evidence that Western countries have recently realized the danger of the Brotherhood organization on their societies.

Austria has taken a hard line against what it describes as political Islam, especially since a terrorist attack in Vienna killed four people.