Imam in Switzerland Urged Burning of Muslims Who Don’t Pray, Prosecutors Say<br />11, 2017<br />BERLIN — The Swiss authorities have charged an imam from Ethiopia with inciting violence by calling<br />in a sermon for local Muslims who refused to pray to be burned alive, prosecutors said on Friday.<br />The man, who was not further identified, in keeping with Swiss privacy law, is charged with calling in a sermon in October for the denunciation of Muslims<br />in the community who did not pray, "and for those who continue to refuse to do so to be killed by burning them in their homes," prosecutors said.<br />Prosecutors in Zurich said in a statement that their colleagues in Winterthur, where the mosque<br />was, had charged him on Aug. 2 with calling for violence and violating immigration law.<br />The imam also faces charges of violating immigration law by working in the country in<br />that role for more than four weeks without the requisite permit, prosecutors said.<br />Switzerland has been seeking to integrate the 450,000 Muslims living in the country and, like many of its European neighbors, has been<br />trying to strike a balance between allowing them freedom of religious practice while encouraging them to accept Western norms.<br />Switzerland has been spared the terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists<br />that have hit European countries like Britain, France and Germany, but the Swiss authorities have nonetheless been accused of failing to clamp down swiftly and strongly on radicals.
