(DPA) German authorities on Wednesday banned the Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH), an organization that domestic intelligence considers to be controlled by Iran.
To enforce the ban, which was published in the Federal Gazette and also affects five affiliated organizations, officers searched the IZH inside the Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg as well as premises in eight other states early in the morning.
Dozens of police officers were seen cordoning off the Imam Ali Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, in Hamburg, a Shiite mosque run by the IZH that is located in an upmarket area on the shore of the northern German city’s Outer Alster Lake.
Several police officers stormed the building of a Shiite organization in Berlin’s Tempelhof district at around the same time.
