Strong Parliamentary Action against Brotherhood Arm in Austria
The autumn months seem heavy on the terrorist Brotherhood in Austria, as blows from here and there relentlessly pursue it.
- Assylan tribes in Shabwah rally to reject Houthi and the Brotherhood
-
The emergence of a third Brotherhood front… Will the Kamalit remove the fronts Hussein and Munir?
Shortly before the first anniversary of the police raids against ISIS, a number of Austrian MPs moved to press for strong action against the Culture League organization; the Brotherhood’s main arm on Austrian soil.
The request for information addressed to the Minister of Integration, Susanne Raab, signed by five Austrian MPs, including the Deputy Hans Amsparo.
The briefing request, dated October 14, 2021, addressed a number of questions to Raab about the Association of Culture and its future, following a study based on a confidential report on the organization’s relation to the terrorist Brotherhood, according to the preamble to the request.
“A study by the Center for the Documentation of Political Islam, based on a confidential report, concluded that the Association of Culture is part of the Brotherhood organization”, the preamble said, noting that the Association runs mosques and associations in Vienna and Graz.
She continued: “In doing so, the study discovered clear links between the Association of Culture and the extremist Muslim Brotherhood group”, adding that “the list of invitations to events, training courses and lectures, organized by the Association and mostly held in Arabic, includes leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood”.
“From 2005 to 2015, the majority of speakers at these events were Brotherhood leaders in Germany and Egypt”, the preamble said.
The preamble also stated that “among other things, the extremist preacher Wagdy Ghoneim was invited to a series of lectures organized by the League in 2005, the Egyptian man who is subject to several decisions banning entry to European territories, is a fanatic of the Hamas organization and does not clearly distance himself from ISIS”.
The request for the briefing requested the Austrian Minister of Integration to clarify the political and legal actions she had taken against the Association of Culture, after receiving this serious study, and whether she had sent a copy to the Ministry of the Interior for action against the organization.
Raab is expected to respond to the briefing request in the coming days.
According to observers, this request reflects strong pressure within the parliament to take strong measures against the Association of Culture after it was proven that it is linked to the terrorist Brotherhood.
In mid-September, Austrian authorities confirmed for the first time that the Association of Culture, which has its headquarters in Vienna and Graz, is linked to the terrorist Brotherhood.
“The Association for Culture, active in Vienna and Graz, has ideological, structural and personal ties to the Brotherhood”, said a study published by the Center for the Documentation of Political Islam (a government).
According to Lisa Filhofer, an official at the Austrian Center, “The website and social media publications available to the public by Association of Culture officials provide an overview of the organization’s orientations and relationships”.
“The publications of the Culture Association were examined between 2005 and 2017”, Filhofer said.
She continued: “During this period, senior representatives of the Culture League were in close contact with people from the Muslim Brotherhood’s environment and publicly acknowledged their ties to the group such as the ‘’founding member’’ Gamal Murad and his brother Ayman Murad”.
Vienna Forum
The briefing request in the German parliament coincides with the outcome of the Vienna Forum to Combat Political Islam, which resulted in an alliance of four European countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and France – to confront the Brotherhood.
The forum, which was held in Vienna late last month and was widely attended by experts and officials from the four countries, represented a quantum leap in the way of confronting the Brotherhood in Europe.
Raid anniversary
On November 9, one year has passed since Austrian police raided Brotherhood targets in Austria.
“A year ago, Austrian police Special Forces raided 60 Brotherhood targets in four states, interrogated about 100 suspects, and investigations are ongoing”.
Since 2019, Austria has been waging a vigorous campaign against the Brotherhood, as the largest organization of political Islam, starting by banning Brotherhood figures, then establishing the Center for the Documentation of Political Islam to analyze and monitor its activities in Austrian territory, and then opening legal investigations into the group’s activities and funding of terrorism.
