Justice demanded for victims of Austria's Operation Luxor

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - Exactly one year after the Austrian government's Operation Luxor against the Muslim community, two rights groups have published a report on the operation and demanded justice for the victims.

CAGE is an advocacy organization that campaigns for "due process, the rule of law and an end to the injustices of the War on Terror," and the Austria-based Assisting Children Traumatised by Police (ACT-P) was founded "to protect children's rights from violations by the police and government under the guise of counter-terrorism in Austria."

The report, titled A Community Persecuted: A Year On From Operation Luxor, investigated the operation and practices of the Austrian government, then led by Sebastian Kurz, allegedly scapegoating Muslims and manipulating public opinion during a series of internal crises over the 12 months that followed the raids.

The Austrian government on Nov. 9 last year carried out one of the country's largest police operations, raiding some 70 homes simultaneously and detaining 30 Muslim activists and academics.

The raids conducted as part of Operation Luxor were declared unlawful by the Graz Higher Regional Court and none of the victims, whose lives were turned upside down after the operation, have been charged with any crime, the report highlighted.

The government has taken a variety of steps under the guise of combatting "political Islam," including mosque closures, hijab bans, and proposed "Sharia bans," it said.

Touching on the deeply politicized nature of the raids, the report claimed that the government of Sebastian Kurz sought to exploit Daesh/ISIS attacks in Vienna to target its Muslim population.

Emphasizing that despite the warnings of an expected attack by foreign and national intelligence services, the Austrian government, which was too busy with Operation Luxor, did not take the necessary measures.

On Nov. 2, a Daesh/ISIS terror group sympathizer killed four people and wounded 23 others in the capital Vienna.

A few days after the attack, some 60 Islamophobic hate-crimes against Muslims were reported alongside a government-led crackdown, it said.

It also drew attention to the central role of the media and commentators, underlining that there was an attempt to legitimize the Austrian government's actions against Muslims in the country, including the "unlawful" Operation Luxor.

The report listed a number of false reports by Austrian mainstream media.

"Mainstream media initially incorrectly reported that €25 million in cash had been found in the survivors' family homes -- a considerable sum, insinuating that Muslims who are financially thriving and well-off in society must be involved in illicit activity," it said.

"Shortly after, it turned out to be false news and that it was not cash but rather mostly real estate capital which had been found," it added.

The report urged the Austrian government to drop all open investigations against the victims of Operation Luxor after Austria's higher regional court declared the operation unlawful.

It also touched on the urgent need for the rejection of a "draconian" anti-terror bill that it said exports divisive campaigns against "political Islam" and demanded a "formal public state commitment to investigate Operation Luxor, especially the human and children's rights violations and the violations of the right to a fair trial."