Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) has banned an Islamic association outside Berlin, alleging that the association has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the terrorist organization Hamas and promotes anti-Semitism.
Stübgen also said in a statement on Thursday that the Islamic Center Fürstenwalde al-Salam opposes the constitutional order.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement founded in Egypt in 1928, is banned there.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militia that started the current war in Gaza after it invaded Israel on October 7, is the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The ban is now being enforced by the police,” a ministry spokesman said. The group’s properties in Fürstenwalde, about 80 kilometers southeast of Berlin, and private homes in Brandenburg and Berlin are being searched.
“We cannot tolerate associations that oppose the constitutional order or the idea of harmony between nations,” Stübgen said in the statement.
The “sparks of the Stone Age culture of Islamism” must be extinguished as soon as possible to prevent them from growing even bigger, he said.
The announcement comes about 10 days before the September 22 state elections in Brandenburg, which are teetering on the brink of migration and religious extremism, with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party leading in the polls.
Stübgen said that in particular “the organised indoctrination of young people with extremist ideologies” carries risks.
“Treacherous radicalization strategies of extremist organizations and movements” are behind this, he added. “This evil must be tackled at its roots,” Stübgen said.
The minister had already announced months ago that he would take measures against the association.
Last winter, Stübgen demanded a swift ban on Hamas in Germany, saying it was necessary to take action against the Islamic center.
According to the Interior Ministry, the association was founded in 2018 in Fürstenwalde and operates the al-Salam Mosque there. The Islamic Center Fürstenwalde offers Friday sermons and a wide range of services for Muslims from the region.
In July 2023, the association was classified by the Brandenburg domestic intelligence service as an organization with confirmed extremist aims.
Stübgen said at the time: “The association acts against the liberal-democratic basic order, spreads anti-Semitic stories and denies Israel’s right to exist. We must not tolerate this.”
According to assessments by the agency, better known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the association’s extremist agenda can be demonstrated through its activities and posts on social media.
Posts clearly refer to extremist Islamic organizations. For example, the association distributed content from organizations close to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood on its social media channels.
In addition, anti-Semitic content is being disseminated that questions Israel’s right to exist, according to the domestic intelligence service.
