The public prosecutor’s office in Essen has brought charges against the Islamist influencer Ibrahim El-Azzazi. The well-known Salafist is alleged to have raped and physically abused his wife, reports the newspaper Die Welt.
For example, he is accused of injuring the woman’s hand with a so-called Kubotan, a melee weapon, in November 2021. On another occasion, he allegedly choked her until the woman “could no longer breathe for about a minute”, said a spokeswoman for the Essen district court.
The public prosecutor’s office also accuses him of raping his wife at least twice in February 2022 and, in one case, penetrating her genital area with his hand against her will. According to El-Azzazi’s defence lawyer, Roland Rautenberger, the wife denies the allegations against her husband. According to this, she stated in a non-public statement in court that her husband had not acted against her will.
El-Azzazi was remanded in custody from the end of February to the beginning of June and was released on conditional release last week. He must report regularly to the authorities. The next day of the trial is scheduled for June 14. According to a spokeswoman for the chamber, a judgement could possibly be reached on that day.
Ibrahim El-Azzazi has been spreading Salafist and Islamist content on social networks for several years. On the internet platform TikTok, his videos sometimes attract up to 100,000 people. One popular example is a series of videos in which the imam answers questions from the audience – for example, whether Muslims are allowed to play chess or shave their beard.
In its 2022 annual report, the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution noted that it was monitoring El-Azzazi’s activities on TikTok “closely”. In its 2023 annual report, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in North Rhine-Westphalia mentioned that preachers like El-Azzazi were able to target young people and make Islamist content “accessible to a wider audience”.
Bekannter TikTok-Islamist soll seine Ehefrau vergewaltigt haben (jungefreiheit.de)