Germany Pursues One of Iran’s Key Religious Centers on its Soil… Details
The German government has taken steps to tighten sanctions on Iran and close some of its institutions, such as Iran’s airlines and the Iran Bank. Now, attention is focused on the (Islamic Center Hamburg) (IZH) as a driving force for Iranian regime activities in Germany.
The police have searched (54) properties in (7) federal states as part of investigations against the Islamic Center in Hamburg.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on November 16 that investigations related to anti-Semitism, extremism dissemination, and hate speech are likely to lead to the center’s prohibition. According to Bild newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated that the Islamic Center in Hamburg had long been under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Mohammed Ali Al-Husseini, head of the Union of Shia Communities in Germany (IGS), which includes the Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH), commented on this action, saying: ‘It is unacceptable that the Constitutional Protection Agency has been heating up allegations and insinuations every year since 1993 without doing anything, and now, with the protests erupting in Iran, pressure comes to close the center. This, for us, is a propaganda act at the expense of Shiite Muslims here in Germany.’ He sees it as ‘an attack on the freedom of Shiite practice of their religion.’
The Hamburg Center denied all accusations, stating in a press release carried by the German news agency: ‘Our members, from mosques and congregations, exclusively focus on religious matters.’ ‘As we have mentioned in our statutes, we are committed to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany,’ and ‘Iran’s policy is not related to the center.’ ‘Our foreign relations are connected with the offices of senior scholars in the Islamic world.’
According to a report published by the European Center for Terrorism Studies and Intelligence, the German parliament (Bundestag) discussed Germany’s policy towards Iran on November 9, 2022, and considered a request from the ruling coalition parties—the Social Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party (Liberal), and the Greens—including ‘the possibility of closing the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH)’ and the practical steps to achieve it.
It is worth mentioning that the center held a mourning council for Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, and the Islamic Center praised Soleimani’s life, classified on the US terrorism lists.
The Islamic Center in Hamburg is considered one of the most important Islamic institutions in Germany and one of the oldest Shia mosques in Europe. The foundation stone was laid in 1951, but completion was delayed due to funding shortages.
When Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, a prominent Shiite cleric, migrated to Hamburg in 1965, he developed construction activities and then the center’s activities. Later, it was upgraded to an international mosque, where Muslims of various religions and nationalities participated in Friday prayers.
German domestic intelligence had revealed on July 16, 2021, documents and evidence available to domestic intelligence agencies in Germany confirming that the Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH) has a ‘direct connection to the Iranian regime.’ For years, this center has been a subject of controversy in the country.
