Austria to expel 60 Turkish-funded imams and shut seven mosques

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.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the moves came after an investigation by the religious affairs authority into images which emerged in April of children in Turkish-backed mosques playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli.

"Parallel societies, political Islam and radicalization have no place in our country," Kurz said.

The photos, published by the Falter weekly, showed the young boys in camouflage uniforms marching, saluting, waving Turkish flags and then playing dead.

Their "corpses" were then lined up and draped in the flags.

The mosque in question was run by the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations (ATIB) organization, based in the German city of Cologne, and a branch of Turkey’s religious affairs agency Diyanet.

ATIB itself condemned the photos at the time, calling the "highly regrettable" event and said that "called off before it had even ended".