Head of Hamburg Islamic Center challenges Germany’s deportation
The controversial head of a center that was shut down and is allegedly a front for Iran, according to German intelligence, has appealed his deportation. However, Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh is already understood to have left the country.
The leader of the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH), which has been banned, Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to contest a deportation order, just hours before he was supposed to depart the nation.
The controversial leader of a now-closed center that German intelligence says was a front for Iran has filed an appeal against deportation. However, Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh is already understood to have left the country.
The interior minister for the state of Hamburg described Mofatteh as “one of Germany’s most prominent Islamists”Image: Christian Charisius/dpa/pciture alliance
Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, the head of the banned Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH), filed court action on Wednesday to challenge a deportation order — hours before a deadline for him to leave the country.
The IZH, which Mottafeh headed from 2018 until its forced closure, was considered by German domestic intelligence authorities to be controlled by Iran.
The deportation order is understood not to be immediately suspended by the appeal itself, and according to the Hamburg Interior Ministry, Mofatteh departed Germany on Tuesday night.
The deportation order had been issued at the end of August by Hamburg authorities.
The 57-year-old Shiite Muslim cleric was given a 14-day ultimatum to depart Germany or face deportation to his native Iran at his own expense.
Additionally, Mofatteh is prohibited from entering Germany again and from staying there for a period of 20 years. He would be sentenced to up to three years in prison if he disobeyed.
Following a fatal knife attack in the western city of Solingen in August, the threat posed by Islamist extremists has become a major political concern for Germany, which has led to the cleric’s departure.
