Germany Shuts Down Iran's 'Islamic Center' in Hamburg

The German Ministry of the Interior announced that the 'Islamic Center Hamburg' and its affiliated institutions have been banned due to their adherence to radical Islamist objectives. In a statement on Wednesday, it was revealed that 53 locations associated with this organization were inspected by dozens of agents across eight German states on the morning of August 3. According to Reuters, in addition to the 'Islamic Center Hamburg', which includes one of Germany's oldest mosques known for its turquoise dome, its subgroups in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin have also been banned. As a result, the German Ministry of the Interior stated that four Shia mosques in the country will be closed. Reuters reported that the 'Islamic Center Hamburg' was unavailable for comment by phone on Wednesday morning, and its website was not accessible to the public. The report indicated that evidence obtained from a previous inspection of 55 locations associated with this center in November formed the basis for the ban on the 'Islamic Center Hamburg'. The center, which manages this mosque, has been classified as an extremist center by the German intelligence agency, which previously stated that it often promotes 'openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli attitudes'. In response to this action, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador. The official IRNA news agency reported that the Director General for Western Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned Germany's 'hostile action and contrary to fundamental human rights principles' and expressed the Islamic Republic's strong protest. Meanwhile, according to the German newspaper 'Spiegel', Nancy Faeser, the German Minister of the Interior, had decided the previous Wednesday to ban the continued activities of the 'Islamic Center Hamburg'. The report states that 'after evaluating the evidence, the Ministry's suspicions were confirmed, and it was found that this center promotes totalitarian Islamist ideas regarding governance, anti-Semitism, and hostility towards Israel, and supports the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is linked to the Iranian regime and is banned in Germany.' According to a statement issued by the German Ministry of the Interior, the activities of the 'Islamic Center Hamburg' are contrary to the German constitution, and for this reason, the activities of this association and its subsidiaries, including the 'Islamic Association of Bavaria', have also been banned. Last fall, 800 police officers raided this center and its affiliated associations in several German states, seizing documents, computers, mobile phones, and large amounts of cash. The Islamic Center of Hamburg, affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been under the supervision of the German domestic intelligence agency for three decades. The German center-right coalition has called for the 'IRGC to be designated as a terrorist organization'. Mohammad Hadi Moftah, the head of the Islamic Center Hamburg and a direct representative of Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, was expelled from Germany in November 2022, during the peak of nationwide protests in Iran. Prior to that, Soleiman Mousavi Far, the deputy head of the Islamic Center Hamburg, had also received his expulsion order from the country. His expulsion was also cited as being due to support for 'extremist Shia militia organizations' and 'terrorist organizations'. The Hamburg domestic security agency announced in 2021 that it had obtained documents indicating that the 'Blue Mosque' or 'Imam Ali Mosque', which is the Islamic Center Hamburg, was a 'direct center for the activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran' in Germany and supported 'local Hezbollah structures', which are banned in Germany. On November 25 of last year, the German Minister of the Interior also reported on the raid of hundreds of police officers on the 'Islamic Center Hamburg' and five affiliated groups, but no one was arrested in that operation. The aforementioned police operation took place in six of the 16 German states, including Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, and North Rhine-Westphalia, with searches conducted at the properties of the 'Islamic Center Hamburg'. The reason for the previous police raid on the 'Islamic Center Hamburg' and five affiliated groups was stated to be 'suspicious connections' to Hezbollah, the Shia group supported by Iran, with the Hamas group. Germany has banned the activities of the extremist group Hamas and its associated organizations following the deadly attack on October 7 of last year carried out by this Islamist group in Israel. The European Union and the United States classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Alongside the Islamic Center affiliated with the Islamic Republic in Hamburg, a similar center in Frankfurt has also drawn the attention of security officials. With the onset of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in fall 2022, Iranians residing in Frankfurt also demonstrated in solidarity with those protests in front of the Iranian consulate and the Islamic cultural center in the city. They have consistently called on the Hesse state government to close these two centers during their extensive protest movements.