Austria bans Muslim Brotherhood groups

Austria has approved new penalties against the promotion of extremist groups, including those with links to “religiously-motivated crimes”, that will forbid the symbols of a range of terrorist groups.

The new federal law bans the use of symbols representing ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Grey Wolves, the Kurdish Workers’ Party, Hezbollah’s military wing, the Croatian fascist movement Ustasha and all other entities that are listed by the EU as terrorist groups.

The authorities further gained powers to dismiss people from the vicinity of an environment that contributed to their radicalisation. Companies and institutions face the responsibility to submit and verify that their accounting records comply with a ban on domestic financing of extremists. Dual citizens can be removed of their citizenship and convicted criminals can lose driving licences.