Spanish prosecutors are investigating a complaint by an Islamic association after a rally at which Ortega-Smith mentioned “the Islamist invasion”. There are two million Muslims in Spain, of which nearly half are Spanish citizens.
Spanish daily El Paìs reported that prosecutors in Valencia will be investigating the secretary general of Vox for public statements that might constitute a hate crime.
Prosecution sources told the daily that the decision to investigate Vox’s number two official, comes after a group called Musulmanes Contra la Islamofobia (Muslims Against Islamophobia) filed a complaint.
At a Vox rally held in Valencia in September of last year, Ortega-Smith warned against an “invasion”.
“We will be stronger against the common enemy who has a very clear name, and I will not refrain from speaking out this name,” said Ortega Smith at that event, which was captured on video. “Our common enemy, the enemy of Europe, the enemy of progress, the enemy of democracy, the enemy of family, the enemy of life, the enemy of the future is called the Islamist invasion.”
Although Ortega Smith warned against “Islamists” and not Muslims, his remarks suggest that he included all followers of Islam in the definition.
“What’s at stake is our very notion of civilization,” said the Vox leader at the September rally. “But we are not alone; as you know, growing numbers of Europeans are standing up because they are suffering in their own cities, streets and neighborhoods what it means to apply the Sharia, and they are not ready to have their cathedrals torn down to be forcibly replaced by mosques. They are not ready to see their women have to cover their faces with a black cloth and walk 10 steps behind, treated worse than a camel. They are not ready for the end of what we view as civilization out of respect for rights and freedoms.”
There will be a six-month period to investigate before deciding to pursue proceedings against Ortega-Smith. The Muslim association said his statements were “flatly false” and constituted “an attack against social harmony by encouraging an atmosphere of fear and rejection of Muslim communities”.
The association conflated the attack in New Zealand on a mosque with Ortega-Smith’s remarks because the shooter “could have easily adopted as his own views much of [Ortega’s] rhetoric”.
A hate crime in Spain is described in Article 510.1 of its Criminal Code, and calls for prison sentences of one to four years or heavy fines.