Danish prosecutors have charged Imam Mundhir Abdallah after outrage over a 2017 speech, in which he called on Muslims to kill Jews to fulfil their destiny. It is the first charge of its kind under new religious preaching laws.
The disturbing comments, which were filmed and distributed on the imam’s social media, prompted Danish prosecutors to issue charges for the first time under the new criminal code, introduced in January 2017.
“Judgement Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them,” the imam said in a Facebook and YouTube video post in March.
Abdallah is accused of citing a religious narrative calling for Muslims to rise up against the Jews. Abdallah preaches in Norrebro, Copenhagen, at the Masjid Al-Faruq mosque, which has previously been linked to radical Islam.
Public prosecutor Eva Ronne released a statement following the imam’s charge. “These are serious statements and I think it’s right for the court to now have an opportunity to assess the case,” she said. “It has always been illegal to accept killings of a certain group of people, but it’s new for us to target hate preachers,” Ronne said.
