Austria to expel up to 60 ‘Turkish-funded’ imams: interior minister

Vienna (AFP) – Austria could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families as part of a crackdown on “political Islam”, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said Friday.

“The circle of people possibly affected by these measures – the pool that we’re talking about – comprises around 60 imams,” Kickl said, adding that a total of 150 people risked losing their right to residence.

Seven mosques will also be shut after an investigation by the religious affairs authority into images which emerged in April of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli.