The German government announced on Wednesday the ban of the Muslim NGO Ansaar, accused of financing Islamist terrorism under cover of its charitable work and targeted by a series of searches in the country.
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Interior Minister Horst Seehofer "
banned the Ansaar International eV associations and its branches,
" a network that "
finances terrorism around the world with donations,
" the ministry spokesman tweeted. “
If you want to fight terrorism, you have to dry up its sources of money,
” said Horst Seehofer. The ban took effect on Wednesday morning and was accompanied by searches and seizures of homes and garages in ten regions of Germany, according to SWR radio.
The NGO, created in 2012 and based in Düsseldorf (west), has been in the sights of the authorities for several years. It collects donations for charitable actions in regions in crisis such as Syria, Yemen or the Gaza Strip. But according to a document from the Ministry of the Interior cited by SWR, the association is close to the Salafist movement and actions of "
proselytism
" are carried out with children accommodated in the premises of the organization in Germany which promotes of "
extremist Salafism
".
Donations collected by associations are also used to support terrorism through organizations such as the Syrian jihadist militia Jabhat al-Nusra, which has since been absorbed by the Hajat Tahrir al-Sham militia, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. and the Schebab militia in Somalia, advances the same document.
A total of nine organizations are considered by the Home Office to be sub-organizations of Ansaar International - notably the Somali Committee for Information and Advice in Darmstadt, Hesse, a foundation of former football professional Änis Ben-Hatira in Berlin and the WWR-Help association.
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