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German state bans Islamic center over alleged Hamas links

September 12, 2024

The interior minister of Brandenburg said the Islamic Center Fürstenwalde has links to Hamas. Police conducted raids where they retrieved laptops and a "considerable" amount of cash.

https://p.dw.com/p/4kYvJ
Fürstenwalde Brandenburg verbietet Islamisches Zentrum
Police raided the organization’s premises Fürstenwalde plus a number of homesImage: Lutz Deckwerth/dpa/picture alliance

German authorities have banned and raided an Islamic center in Brandenburg on Thursday over alleged links to the militant group Hamas.

The Islamic Center Fürstenwalde (IZF) was founded in 2018, and is located around  80 kilometers (50 miles) south-east of Berlin. It operates the al-Salaam Mosque and provides services to Muslims in the area.

Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen said on Thursday the IZF "is associated with the Islamist terrorist group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood."

"The organization acts against the free democratic order, spreads antisemitic narratives and denies Israel's right to exist. We cannot accept that.," he added.

The German government, along with the US, the EU and others, classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.

What do we know about the raids?

Brandenburg's intelligence chief Joerg Mueller said the IZF posed a threat because Muslims could be "directly exposed to extremist attitudes and Islamist ideology through the work of the association."

Around 70 police officers searched the organization's premises in Fürstenwalde as well as homes in Brandenburg and Berlin, where the mosque's imam lives.

Stübgen said they seized laptops and "a considerable amount of cash."

Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen speaking to the media
Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen announced the ban 10 days before a state electionImage: Michael Bahlo/dpa/picture alliance

It is the second high-profile raid of an Islamic center in Germany in recent months, after authorities shut down the Hamburg Islamic Center after it was deemed an "Islamist extremist organization" with links to Iran and Hezbollah.

Thursday's announcement in Brandenburg came 10 days before a state election where the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is leading the polls.

zc/jcg (dpa, AFP)