BERLIN — The Swiss authorities have charged an imam from Ethiopia with inciting violence by calling in a sermon for local Muslims who refused to pray to be burned alive, prosecutors said on Friday.

The imam was associated with the An’Nur mosque, which had become known as a hub for Islamist extremist activity. Prosecutors in Zurich said in a statement that their colleagues in Winterthur, where the mosque was, had charged him on Aug. 2 with calling for violence and violating immigration law.

Switzerland has been spared the terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists that have hit European countries like Britain, France and Germany, but the Swiss authorities have nonetheless been accused of failing to clamp down swiftly and strongly on radicals.

The man, who was not further identified, in keeping with Swiss privacy law, is charged with calling in a sermon in October for the denunciation of Muslims in the community who did not pray, “and for those who continue to refuse to do so to be killed by burning them in their homes,” prosecutors said.