They didn’t hang their pictures in mosques so that the mosquegoers could pray for them, but so that these women would be further threatened and intimidated. No one at the mosque seems to have informed these “guardians” that Islam is a religion of tolerance that respects women.
What are the chances that the people in this mosque are going to become loyal members of secular Austrian society?
“‘Guardians of morals’ threatened ‘too Western’ women,” translated from “‘Sittenwächter’ bedrohten ‘zu westliche’ Frauen,” Kronen Zeitung, August 13, 2020 (thanks to Medforth):
Because, in their opinion, they behaved “too Western”, five men and one woman – all Chechen citizens – systematically persecuted, denounced, threatened or even injured women. The six self-appointed moral guards were arrested and are likely to belong to a hierarchically structured group that has wanted since at least the beginning of the year to “remind” women from Chechnya and in some cases their partners or families in Vienna and Linz that they should behave according to their values. The police assume that there are both more victims and more perpetrators.
The case started after an affected woman turned to the police. As a result, more women came forward and the police started investigations. The victims – ten are known to date – reported that a photo in swimwear or a relationship with a person not of Chechen origin was enough for the group to target them. If this happened, the perpetrators proceeded systematically, a police spokesman said on Thursday.
Pictures of the women were hung in mosques
First, the members of the group are said to have scoured their circle of acquaintances, but also social media. If there were indications of “offense”, someone was sent to speak to the woman in question. If that didn’t work, family members were also included in the threats, the police said. Furthermore, pictures of the women are said to have been hung up in mosques to denounce them. According to the police, if the women did not give in, further threats and violence followed, whether at home or at work. According to the police, the acts were more likely to have been initiated by the older members of the group.
The previously known “moral guardians” are between 19 and 37 years old and are said to have committed intimidation, but also bodily harm in at least ten cases since the beginning of the year. After intensive investigations, the five men and the woman were arrested during the night of June 17 as part of coordinated, simultaneous raids on the home addresses of the suspects, according to a broadcast by the Vienna State Police Department.
Gas and alarm guns, knives and cash secured
Officers from the State Criminal Police Office in Vienna, supported by Cobra and the Task Force to Combat Street Crime in Linz, seized cell phones, which were presumably used for communication in certain messenger services, various gas and alarm weapons, knives and 5,000 euros in cash. The police could not say on Thursday whether the weapons were used in the threats to the women. The suspects are said to have posed with them on social networks.
The alleged perpetrators were charged with numerous criminal offenses, primarily on suspicion of multiple bodily harm, coercion and criminal association. The police assume that there are both more victims and more perpetrators. The investigation is ongoing.