Germany expels head of banned Muslim association

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, the authorities in the city state said on Thursday. Reuters has reported that the interior ministry in Hamburg said that it had informed Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh that he has until 11 September to leave or else be deported.

Mofatteh had been head of the IZH since summer 2018. He did immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment sent via social media.

According to findings by Hamburg’s domestic intelligence agency, he was until recently the official deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Germany as head of the IZH.

Bild newspaper and broadcaster NDR were the first to report on the expulsion order.

Social media accounts associated with the IZH and its website have been taken down in Germany after the country banned the association and subsidiary organisations in July for “pursuing radical Islamist goals”, according to the federal interior ministry.

The ministry said that the IZH, which includes one of the oldest mosques in Germany known for its turquoise exterior, had acted as a direct representative of Khamenei and sought to bring about an Islamic revolution in the country. Following the closure of the IZH, Iran summoned the German ambassador in Tehran.

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