Law Enforcement

German police foil terror plot in Hamburg A man with Islamist connections was arrested before he was able to carry out a planned attack. Police found material that could have been used in a potentially deadly bomb.

(Deutsche Welle) German police revealed on Friday that they prevented a planned Islamist attack in the northern city of Hamburg over the summer. Andy Grote, top security official for the city, which like the cities of Berlin and Bremen is a state […]

Law Enforcement

9/11: 20 years on, Germany still grapples with militant Islamists On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban flag is flying over Kabul again. A German police expert fears that Afghanistan could once again become a gathering place for jihadis — including from Germany.

(Deutsche Welle) Sven Kurenbach still remembers the images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing and the spontaneous minute of silence at the Berlin police department that followed. When Islamist terrorists weaponized passenger planes on September 11, 2001 — killing […]

Government & Politics

Berlin Christmas market attack made possible by ‘serious’ errors, report finds Bureaucratic failures and critical misjudgment of the attacker's behavior made the 2016 terrorist attack possible, a Berlin parliament committee report concluded.

(Deutsche Welle) A special committee of the Berlin state parliament released its comprehensive report into the December 2016 Christmas market terror attack on Monday. The attack at the Breitscheidplatz market was the most serious act of Islamist terrorism in Germany to date. The attacker, Anis […]

Government & Politics

Germany outlaws Islamist organization Ansaar International Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has banned the Düsseldorf-based Islamist association on suspicion of financing terrorist groups abroad such as the Palestinian Hamas and al-Shabab in Somalia.

(Deutsche Welle) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Wednesday that Germany has banned the Islamist organization Ansaar International and several of its sub-organizations. “The network finances terrorism worldwide with donations,” Seehofer’s spokesman Steve Alter tweeted on Wednesday. Alter quoted Seehofer as saying: “If you want to […]

Immigration

Dutch court hands 6-year prison term to former Syrian Ahrar al-Sham commander 31-year-old ‘Al Y’ was accused of war crimes after posing with the body of an enemy fighter and kicking another corpse in a YouTube video.

(Kurdistan 24) A former commander of the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group has been sentenced to six years in prison in the Netherlands for war crimes and membership in a terrorist organization. The Dutch Public Prosecution earlier demanded a 10-year sentence, but […]

Law Enforcement

Berlin: Salafist group outlawed after police raids Authorities in the German capital have announced a ban on the radical Islamist group Jama'atu Berlin following a series of dawn raids.

(Deutsche Welle) Berlin’s Senate has announced on Twitter that it has banned the “jihadist-Salafist association Jama’atu Berlin,” also known as Tauhid Berlin. The tweet Thursday said police in Berlin and Brandenburg had carried out early-morning searches of properties belonging to the group’s members. A […]

Clerics & Preachers

Abu Walaa, the preacher guilty of supporting ‘Islamic State’ terrorism The trial of suspected 'Islamic State' recruiter Abu Walaa has lasted three and a half years in the German city of Celle. He was sentenced to over 10 years in prison.

(Deutsche Welle) Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 11 1/2 years for Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A., also known as Abu Walaa. They said the defendant, who was born in Iraq, was the head of an “Islamic State” (IS) network and worked to […]

Legal

Tajik IS cell member in Germany jailed for 7 years The man had been accused of forming an 'Islamic State' cell with other locals of Tajik origins. They had first planned to shoot dead an Islam critic inside Germany.

(Deutsche Welle) A German court on Tuesday sentenced a man to seven years in prison over plans to … shoot dead a critic of Islam as part of an “Islamic State” (IS) terror cell. Summing up the four-month trial, a Düsseldorf court […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

New French law may increase discrimination France's government is presenting a draft law to combat 'radical Islamism.' Critics say the measures are inefficient and will further stigmatize Muslims.

(Deutsche Welle) Irfan Thakar and Omar Ahamad feel misunderstood as Muslims in France. They are members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Saint-Prix, a northern suburb of Paris. As the imam, the 30-year-old Thakar regularly leads the prayer at the Moubarak mosque, […]

News: Europe

Islamist terrorism: Germany is home to more than 600 agitators Islamist terrorism has struck again in Europe — this time in Vienna and Nice. Germany has also been the scene of numerous attacks, and the security forces keep tabs on hundreds of potential attackers.

(Deutsche Welle) At least one of the assailants in the Vienna attack was known to police. The 20-year-old, shot dead on Monday evening, had made several attempts to leave the country and join the so-called Islamic State (IS). It would appear, however, that […]

Citizenship

Man denied German citizenship for refusing to shake woman’s hand The man aced the German naturalization test, but refused to shake hands with the female official handing over his citizenship. Despite claims he will not shake hands with men either, his citizenship has been rejected.

(Deutsche Welle) A German court ruled on Friday that a Muslim man who refused to shake the hand of a woman should not receive German citizenship. The 40-year-old Lebanese doctor, who came to Germany in 2002, said he refuses to shake women’s […]

Books

Germany: Top police informant identified by Islamist and convicted terrorist The undercover agent 'Murat Cem' is reported to be under police protection after a well-known Islamist identified him. Clues to the informant's real name were apparently found in a book about his surveillance work.

(Deutsche Welle) After the identity of a high-profile police informant was blown this summer, a radical Islamist and convicted terrorist has claimed responsibility for unmasking him, German public broadcaster Tagesschau reported on Friday. Bernhard Falk said he worked out the real name […]

Children & Teens

Families of French IS members in Syria battle to bring them back Families in France are growing more determined to bring back relatives who left to join the so-called Islamic State. Dozens of French women and children recently vanished from the radar, leaving relatives desperate.

(Deutsche Welle) Antoine* is used to standing his ground. The trade unionist has defended workers’ rights his whole life. But when his daughter M. suddenly left to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq five years ago, he hit rock bottom. “It […]