Germany bans Iran-linked association for pursuing radical Islam

Germany's interior ministry said on Wednesday it has banned the Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) association and its subsidiary organizations, saying it pursues radical Islamist goals. The entity is controlled by Tehran.

The ministry said in a statement that 53 of the organization’s premises had been searched by authorities in eight German states early on Wednesday, acting on a court order.

Germany's federal police had raided the Islamic Center on suspicions of support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, accused of terrorism, in November 2023. Germany banned Hezbollah activities in 2020.

The interior ministry said at the time that the Khamenei-controlled IZH activities are “aimed at spreading the revolutionary concept of the Supreme (Iranian) leaders,” and that the center allegedly undermines Germany’s “constitutional order.”

In addition to the Hamburg-based IZH, which includes one of the oldest mosques in Germany known for its turquoise exterior, its subgroups in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were also banned.

As a result, four Shiite mosques will be closed, said the ministry. Some German politicians issued statements expressing satisfaction that the government finally acted against IZH.

The IZH was not available for comment by phone on Wednesday morning, Reuters said, and its website was not accessible to the public.

The IZH has been a hotbed of pro-Hezbollah activism and support for Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of IRGC's Quds Force. In January 2020, after the US killed Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq, a group of 600 pro-Iran regime Islamists attended a memorial service at the Hamburg center to mourn his death. The Islamists praised him as a “heroic martyr.”

In early 2023, the German Federal Administrative Court ruled that the IZH (and its affiliated Blue Mosque are an "extremist Islamic organization."

Evidence from the earlier search of 55 properties conducted in November provided the basis for Wednesday's ban of the IZH, known in German as Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg, said the ministry.

"Today, we banned the Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg, which promotes an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

"This Islamist ideology is opposed to human dignity, women's rights, an independent judiciary and our democratic government."

She said she wanted to make clear that "this ban absolutely does not apply to the peaceful practice of the Shiite religion."

The ministry said the IZH acted as a direct representative of Iran's Supreme Leader and sought to bring about an Islamic revolution in Germany that would create theocratic rule.

In addition, IZH promotes anti-Semitism and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which is also banned, it said.

With reporting by Reuters