Five weeks after the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) was banned, which was labeled as extremist, its former director must leave Germany.
The Hamburg Interior Authority this week issued a deportation order for 57-year-old Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, a spokeswoman in Hamburg said Thursday. She initially gave no information about whether the man is still in the country.
The letter instructs him to leave Germany within 14 days or risk deportation to his country of origin at his own expense.
According to the authority, this must be done by September 11, 2024. In addition, he is no longer allowed to enter or stay in Germany. If he does so, he risks a maximum of three years in prison.
Mofatteh had been head of IZH since the summer of 2018. According to findings by Hamburg’s domestic intelligence agency, officially known as the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, he was until recently considered the official representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Germany.
For Senator Andy Grote of the Interior in Hamburg, the deportation is the next consistent step that the authority is taking after the ban on the IZH, he said when asked.
“As the highest religious representative of the inhuman regime in Tehran, his time in Germany is over. We will continue to combat Islamic extremism with all our strength and use all means of the residence law to do so,” Grote said.