AUSTRIA:A local politician from Austria's extreme-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has come under fire for calling the prophet Muhammad a "child abuser".
Austrian authorities have opened an investigation into Susanne Winter, an FPÖ official in the southeastern city of Graz, for demanding that Islam "be thrown back where it belongs: beyond the Mediterranean Sea".
Ms Winter claimed that, because of his marriage to a six-year-old, Muhammad would "in today's system be a child abuser".
The Koran, she declared, was written by Muhammad during "epileptic fits".
When challenged on her views, she claimed in Österreich (Austria) newspaper that child abuse was "widespread" among Muslim men. "Why can't I say this? That has nothing to do with hate speech," she told the newspaper.
"We want neither Austrian nor foreign paedophiles. I did not want to incite hatred, or offend a religious community." Ms Winter is campaigning under the slogan, "So that Graz remains home", and has warned that, unless Austria reacts to a looming "Muslim immigrant tsunami", half of the Austrian population will be Muslim in 30 years.
Now she is being investigated for incitement to hatred; if charged, she could face two years in prison.
Ms Winter's remarks have been condemned by Austria's political leaders. "In the 1930s, people in Graz were set on Jews, now Muslims serve the same purpose," said Gustav Posch, head of Acus, the Christian and Social Democratic Working Association.
The spokesman for Austria's Muslim community, Omar al-Rawi, said Ms Winter's remarks were "untrue", "racist" and "stomach-churning".
Graz, the capital of Austria's Steiermark province, has the lowest Muslim population in the country. In the last elections, the FPÖ, founded by right-wing populist Jörg Haider, attracted 13 per cent of the vote.