Marcel Fürstenau

German lay judge challenges a headscarf ban in court A German Muslim woman has been barred from working as a lay judge because she wears a headscarf which was alleged to be in violation of the requirement of neutrality. The matter is now before the constitutional court.

July 13, 2024 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) In 2015, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled against a general headscarf ban for teachers, saying that such a ban was incompatible with the freedom of religion guaranteed in the German Constitution. Nine years later, the same court is again addressing […]

Is Islamist terror a threat to Germany? The arrest of two terror suspects once again raises questions about the scope of the terrorist threat to Germany. It also brings back memories of the 2016 Christmas market attack.

January 12, 2023 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) The most recent arrest of two terror suspects in Germany has raised the specter of Islamist terror in Germany — despite intensified efforts to prevent such an attack in recent years. Two men had intended to kill “an unspecified number of people” […]

Does Germany’s special network to prevent Islamist extremists’ attacks work? Political and religious extremism has long been seen as a threat to democracy in Germany. The Counter Terrorism Center is where agencies and police network to prevent Islamist extremist attacks. Is it effective?

July 23, 2022 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) December 19, 2016, was a particularly dark day for Germany’s Joint Counter Terrorism Center. That was the day when the terrorist Anis Amri steered a stolen truck into a crowd of people at the Christmas market on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz. Twelve […]

Islamists in Germany: Quiet, but dangerous A stabbing spree in the German city of Würzburg has renewed focus on the threat of Islamism, even if the attacker's motive remains unclear.

June 29, 2021 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) Last week’s knife attack in the Bavarian city of Würzburg left three people dead and seven injured — five of them seriously. The suspect is a man from Somalia whose asylum application had been rejected. Police are investigating his motives, […]

Berlin Islamist terror attack: A deadly story of failure Anis Amri committed the worst Islamist attack in Germany to date when he drove into the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz. Four years later many questions are unanswered. And many fear such an event could be repeated.

December 18, 2020 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) Eleven people died and 60 were seriously injured when the Islamist Anis Amri drove a stolen truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin on December 19, 2016. The 24-year-old Tunisian national whose application for asylum had been rejected had […]

German intelligence agency warns of ‘Islamic State’ attacks From a military point of view, the 'Islamic State' has been defeated in the Middle East. However, the group remains a dangerous terrorist organization in the West, warns Germany's domestic intelligence agency.

May 13, 2019 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) It was the first time Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, had hosted his agency’s traditional symposium. The event on Monday in Berlin was entitled “Mobilization Capability in Political Extremism” — […]