'Wiping out' extremist ideology is my mission - head of Saudi-based Muslim body

Mohammed al-Issa, former justice minister, head of the Muslim World League (MWL) speaks during an interview with Reuters at a hotel in Paris, France, November 23, 2017. Picture taken November 23, 2017. REUTERS/Clotaire Achi

PARIS (Reuters) - The head of a Saudi-based organisation that for decades was charged with spreading the strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world has said those times were over and his focus now was aimed at annihilating extremist ideology.

Former justice minister Mohammed al-Issa, appointed secretary-general of the Mecca-based Muslim World League (MWL) just over a year ago, told Reuters during a European tour that his organisation would no longer sit by and let Islam be taken hostage by extremists.