Germany expels head of banned Muslim association

By Reuters
August 30, 2024
Police secure the area at the Zentrum der islamischen Kultur Frankfurt e.V. after Germanys interior ministry has banned the Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) association and its subsidiary organizations. — Reuters
Police secure the area at the Zentrum der islamischen Kultur Frankfurt e.V. after Germany's interior ministry has banned the Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) association and its subsidiary organizations. — Reuters

FRANKFURT: Germany has told the Iranian head of the recently banned Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) that he is being expelled from the country and has two weeks to leave, authorities in Hamburg said on Thursday.

The interior ministry of the German city state of Hamburg said in a statement that it had informed Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh that he has until Sept 11 to leave or else be deported.

Mofatteh had been head of the IZH since summer 2018, the statement continued.

He did immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent via social media.

According to findings by Hamburg’s domestic intelligence agency, he was the official deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Germany as head of the IZH until recently. Bild newspaper and broadcaster NDR first reported on the expulsion orders.