The Iranian representation in Hamburg is beautiful, the facade is bright blue, and it is also beautifully located on the Outer Alster. This does not mean the Consulate General, but a building at the promising address Schöne Aussicht 36. The house is recommended in travel guides as an architectural highlight. The only problem is: There is no official diplomatic branch of Iran on the Alster, but rather, according to the German security authorities, a front organization housed in the “Blue Mosque”. As the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution puts it: an “outpost of the Tehran regime.”
The mosque received a visit from the police on Thursday morning. Officials searched the rooms of the “Islamic Center Hamburg” (IZH), which runs the mosque. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced this morning that it was conducting an investigation under association law against the IZH association and five other associations. However, a club ban has apparently not yet been enforced.
According to the ministry, the IZH is suspected of “acting against the constitutional order and against the idea of international understanding.” According to the ministry, the security authorities are also investigating the suspicion that the IZH supports the activities of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, which are banned in Germany.
54 properties in seven federal states were searched
The other associations are suspected to be sub-organizations of the Islamic Center Hamburg. The raid began around six o’clock. 54 properties in seven federal states are affected. In addition to Hamburg, there were also searches in Lower Saxony, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. In the morning, for example, there were people at the “Islamic Community of Shiite Communities in Germany e.V.” (IGS), to which the IZH belongs, officials at the door. Also at the “Islamic Association of Bavaria e.V.” in Munich and the association “Salman Farsi Mosque e. V.” Rooms in Langenhagen near Hanover were searched.
“We have the Islamist scene in our sights,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). “Especially now, at a time when many Jews feel particularly threatened, the following applies: We generally do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incitement.” Especially now it is important to be highly vigilant and take tough action.
The Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution has had the Islamic Center in its sights since the early 1990s. Since then, the authorities have collected more and more evidence that the IZH is not a harmless mosque association, as it repeatedly claims. For example, the officials received letters addressed to the head of the IZH, Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, in which the salutation read: “Dear Representative of the Supreme Leader, Head of the Islamic Center Hamburg.” The Office for the Protection of the Constitution felt that their assumption was confirmed that Mofatteh is not just an imam, but an unofficial representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Germany.
People close to the center should maintain contact with Hezbollah
In addition, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it is not just the books that the IZH publishes and sells that are full of Islamist, anti-liberal and anti-Semitic theses. The IZH’s entanglements go even further. People close to the center are supposed to maintain contact with the terrorist group Hezbollah, which in turn is financed and supported by Iran. Since 2020, they have been banned from operating in Germany, which prohibits any support. Almost exactly a year ago, the deputy head of the IZH had to leave the Federal Republic. He had According to the findings of the Hamburg interior authorities, supported two banned clubswho collect donations for Hezbollah.
Because of the apparent close ties with the Tehran regime, politicians from various parties have recently called for the IZH to be banned. Because Iran also supports the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, calls for their attack on Israel on October 7th became louder again.
Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) said that a ban by the Federal Ministry of the Interior would be “expressly welcomed and supported” by the Senate. The Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag was already convinced in the spring that all the information necessary for a ban had long been available, and the Union parliamentary group saw it the same way. However, the Interior Ministry took its time examining the ban. Now things are obviously getting serious.