The Limited Times

Bundestag demands ban on the Hamburg Islamic Center

11/9/2022, 8:50:00 PM


The Islamic Center Hamburg is still an official contractual partner of the Hanseatic city, even if only indirectly. That should change now. The Bundestag wants the facility, which is closely linked to Iran, to be closed.

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Islamic Center Hamburg

Photo: Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images

The Bundestag has campaigned for the closure of the Islamic Center Hamburg (IHZ).

A corresponding motion by the traffic light groups was approved by a majority in Parliament on Wednesday evening.

In it, the federal government is asked to "examine whether and how the Islamic Center Hamburg, as the hub of the Iranian regime's operations in Germany, can be closed."

The IZH is classified as extremist by the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The authority regards the facility as an outpost of Tehran.

Green party leader Omid Nouripour had called for its closure months ago and described the Hamburg Islamic Center as "the regime's most important spy nest in Germany."

The approximately two dozen sub-items of the parliamentary motion include expanding the sanctions against Tehran, condemning violent attacks on demonstrators and improving protection for Iranian opposition members in Germany.

The protests in Iran were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old was arrested by the vice squad and died in police custody on September 16.

mwo/dpa