Austria's integration minister calls for Muslim Brotherhood ban

Austria's integration minister, Claudia Bauer, wants a planned ban on political Islam to include the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations. She said the Islamic Religious Community in Austria, known as the IGGÖ, might also be affected.

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I believe one cannot rule it out.

"I believe one cannot rule it out," Bauer said when asked about the IGGÖ. She argued that political Islam had "also gradually spread into established institutions" and demanded that the religious body clarify where it draws the line. Bauer said she had seen "little to nothing" from it in the past on measures against radicalization and extremism.

Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig criticized the prospect of treating the IGGÖ like an extremist organization. He said the fight against Islamist and far-right extremism was necessary, but authorities had to distinguish carefully. The IGGÖ is Austria's legally recognized official representative of Muslims, Ludwig said, and he could not support threatening it with the same measures used against extremist groups.

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also gradually spread into established institutions

Bauer is preparing a draft law that she says would address the "invisible infiltration" of institutions. The government recently ended cooperation with the deradicalization center Derad after the domestic intelligence service identified links to Muslim Brotherhood ideology, according to the article. Bauer described the Muslim Brotherhood as "a terrorist organization whose main goal is to gradually Islamize our European states." She also called for bans on Hezbollah and Hizb ut-Tahrir, while other organizations remain under review.

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a terrorist organization whose main goal is to gradually Islamize our European states

The proposal could require changes to several areas of law, including religious, association, assembly and residence rules. Bauer said a precise definition of political Islam would be essential so that the measures targeted people with extremist ideas rather than ordinary believers. She considers the definition developed by the Documentation Centre Political Islam "very suitable," despite legal concerns raised by constitutional lawyer Peter Bußjäger.

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very suitable