A woman who criticized the United States on social media for the killing of a top Iranian general was arrested Tuesday in Kosovo.
Ikballe Berisha Huduti will remain in detention for 48 hours pending a court decision for incitement to commit a terrorist offense, Reuters reported.
Prosecutors said Huduti, the founder of a now-defunct pro-Islamic group, posted comments on Facebook that were critical of the Jan. 3 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, in a drone strike in Iraq last week.
“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. In one post, Huduti described Solemani as a “great man,” Radio Free Europe reported.
She said she deleted the posts and that her words were taken out of context. Huduti said she previously praised American democracy and U.S. support for Kosovo in 1999, during the conflict between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the former Yugoslavia.
U.S. officials said Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops and was planning attacks just before his death. Many leaders in Kosovo have expressed support for the U.S. airstrike.
“I strongly support #US reaction against Iran’s activities in the Middle East that have caused terror, instability and global concern,” Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaci, tweeted last week. “We stand together in protecting our values and our way of life and in search of peace and security.”
“Kosovo remains unwavering in support of the US in the right to self-defense. The latest self-defense actions against General Soleiman are defense, not only for the United States but for freedom and democracy everywhere,” Kosovo’s outgoing prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, posted to Facebook.