15 September 2010
Elisabeth Sabatisch-Wolff, the controversial lecturer of an FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) seminar on Islam, will appear in court on charges of incitation and hate speech. The public attorney’s office of Vienna has filed an official complaint against Ms. Sabatisch-Wolff, whose comments such as “Islam is evil,” “Muslims are hostile,” and that “Muslims rape their children due to their religion,” came about as part of an “Islam-seminar” at the FPÖ educational institute. The controversy surrounding her comments has led the council of ministers to discuss ways by which to force political parties to repay state funds that were allocated for their educational institutes.
The director of the institute, Klaus Nittman, has stated that he would “naturally” continue to employ Ms. Sabatisch-Wolff. While denouncing the “witch hunt against enlightened women,” Nittman warned that “legal officials must take care not to become the lackeys of the sharia.”
