Germany: Islamist association Imam Mahdi Zentrum banned in North Rhine-Westphalia

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has banned the Islamist association Imam Mahdi Zentrum, based in Münster, with immediate effect. The mosque association had “directly and indirectly supported” the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, said State Interior Minister Herbert Reul ( Christian Democratic Union) on Thursday. In connection with the ban, searches have been conducted since the early morning.

The association violates the constitutional order. In the past years, the centre had collected several thousand euros in donations to provide for children and surviving dependents of Islamist fighters. “So this was a real donation box for Hezbollah,” Reul said. Speakers with links to the extremist organisation had repeatedly lectured at the mosque.

The “anti-Semitic and Islamist propaganda” of the association had already been conveyed in childhood and adolescence. According to the Interior Minister, colouring books with the association’s logo were confiscated during the raid. “An important outpost of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah has been closed down,” Reul said in reference to the ban.

About 70 police officers were deployed in the raid, which focused on Münster, since the morning. In the North Rhine-Westphalian city, there were four raids in the homes of leading figures of the organisation, and another in Lower Saxony. Data carriers, large amounts of coins and ten thousand euros in cash were confiscated.

On Thursday, an Islamist association was also banned in Bremen, which is said to be close to the Hezbollah militia. The Al-Mustafa community incites hatred against members of other religions and rejects central elements of the existing international legal order, said Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer ( Social Democratic Party), justifying the decision.

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