Austria to expel up to 60 imams, close 7 mosques

Austria yesterday said it could expel up to 60 Turkish-funded imams and their families and would shut down seven mosques as part of a crackdown on "political Islam", triggering fury in Ankara. Kickl was referring to imams with alleged links to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organisation, a branch of Turkey's religious affairs agency Diyanet. Kickl added the government suspects them of contravening a ban on foreign funding of religious office holders.