Greece’s Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris, has announced a nationwide “sweep” to identify and shut down all illegal mosques in the Municipality of Athens, alongside the deportation of foreign nationals operating them.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee on Public Administration during discussions on a legal immigration bill, Plevris said the measures would follow a recent case in Agios Nikolaos, where the residence permit of a Bangladeshi national was revoked for illegally running a place of worship.
“What happened in Agios Nikolaos will happen everywhere,” Plevris said.
“All illegal places of worship will be shut down, with the parallel revocation of the legal documents of those who operate them. In cooperation with the relevant ministries, illegal mosques will be sealed and those involved will be deported.”
He stressed that “those who do not comply with Greek law will be automatically deported.”
