Kosovo police arrested a woman on Tuesday accused of inciting terrorist acts for social media comments against the United States over the killing of Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani.
Police said that Ikballe Berisha Huduti, the founder of a now-defunct pro-Islamic organization called Kur’ani, was arrested following an order from the prosecution and she will remain in detention for 48 hours awaiting a court decision.
Police said she was detained on charges of “incitement to commit a terrorist offense.”
Huduti wrote comments on her private Facebook page criticizing Washington after the US forces killed Soleimani on Friday.
“By killing the master of the house you have killed all members of the family, then revenge is obligatory but it has no border,” Huduti wrote, according to Pristina media which had screenshots of her postings.
She deleted her messages and said on Facebook that her words were taken out of context by local media. She said in other postings she had praised US democracy and US support for Kosovo in 1999 when conflict erupted between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the former Yugoslavia.
Showing a photo of her with the former hard-line leader of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, media in Kosovo have described Huduti as a strong supporter of the Iranian government. Her organization was closed by police in 2016. But she denied wrongdoing and there were never any charges against her.
The Islamic Community of Kosovo denounced her comments saying they "have nothing in common" with their stance and "the traditional interpretation and lessons of the Islamic religion prayed among us in centuries."
Kosovo leaders had expressed immediate support for the US actions against Iran.
Kosovo, a mostly Muslim country, is very supportive and loyal to Washington, especially after the 1998-1999 war with Serbia when Washington led NATO airstrikes that drove away Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic's army.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which hasn't been recognized by Belgrade.
