One month after the Islamic Center Hamburg was banned from operating in Germany, a spokesperson for the Hamburg Ministry of Internal Security announced on Thursday, August 29, that the deportation order for Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, the director of the center, had been issued this week and communicated to him.
According to this report, Mofatteh, 57, has been asked to leave Germany within 14 days or face deportation to Iran at his own expense. His deadline expires on September 11.
Furthermore, Mofatteh is prohibited from re-entering Germany, and if he ignores this order, he faces up to three years in prison.
Mofatteh has been the director of the Islamic Center Hamburg since the summer of 2018.
“Islamic Center Hamburg, Promoter of Extremist and Totalitarian Islamist Ideology in Germany”
On the morning of Wednesday, July 24, German police raided the Islamic Center Hamburg and more than 50 affiliated centers, banning their activities.
The German Interior Minister declared in a statement that the evidence collected during the investigations “confirmed serious suspicions to such an extent that we issued the ban order today.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to protest the ban on the activities and closure of the Islamic Center Hamburg and more than 50 affiliated centers.
Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution had previously stated that there was evidence indicating that this Islamic center was “an important propaganda center for Iran in Europe” and “a branch of the Islamic Republic.”
According to the ruling of the Hamburg Administrative Court, the Islamic Center in this city, also known as the “Blue Mosque,” has been classified as an “extremist Islamist organization.”
Hamburg government officials issued the deportation order for “Soleiman Moussavi-Far,” the deputy director of the “Islamic Center Hamburg,” in June 2022, and he was deported from Germany three months later.
At that time, German officials expressed confidence that Soleiman Moussavi-Far supported extremist Shia paramilitary organizations as well as terrorist groups.
The Islamic Republic’s Retaliation against “Goethe”
Last week, Iranian regime security agents attacked two branches of the German language Goethe Institute in Tehran, forcefully removing teachers, staff, and visitors, and tearing down the sign of this center, which operated under the supervision of the German embassy.
The Sabereen News Telegram channel, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announced that “this is a retaliatory measure for the closure of cultural and Islamic centers in Germany.”
Mizan News Agency, the media outlet of the Iranian regime’s judiciary, also issued a statement calling the Goethe Institute “illegal centers affiliated with the German government” and accusing it of “violating national laws.”
The Goethe Educational Institute, with years of experience, offers various German language courses for adults at different levels and conducts official and international language proficiency exams.
