Herbert Kickl
 Herbert Kickl     (politician) | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 19 October 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Austrian | ||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Freedom Party of Austria who accused mainstream media of spreading Covid fear and misinformation.
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Herbert Kickl is an Austrian politician who has been leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since June 2021. He previously was Minister of the Interior from 2017 to 2019 and general-secretary of the FPÖ from 2005 to 2018.[1]
Kickl rose to prominence as a campaign director for the FPÖ and speechwriter for Jörg Haider during the 2000s. After the party split in 2005, he became general-secretary and one of its key leaders. In 2017, he was appointed federal Minister of the Interior in the first Kurz government. He was dismissed from office in May 2019 in the wake of the Ibiza affair - a deep state attempt to unseat the FPÖ - though he was not personally implicated. He returned to the National Council, where he has been leader of the FPÖ faction since 2019.
Opinions on COVID-19
"On 22 April former Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl castigated the government of that country for its lockdown measures during the coronavirus crisis. He accused the mainstream media of spreading fear and misinformation. He remarked that Sweden had fewer deaths due to COVID-19 than Austria although they did not imprison their entire population."[2]
He has also voiced opposition to mandatory use of medical-looking face masks[3] and supported the use of Ivermectin.
