Source: Deutsche Welle – Page 2

Germany says Charming Kitten hackers target Iran dissidents Germany's domestic intelligence agency has warned dissident Iranian activists about the threat of cyber espionage against them. The hackers work by gaining the trust of their targets.

August 10, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Thursday warned critics of the Iranian leadership living in Germany that they might be targeted by hackers. The agency said the Charming Kitten online espionage group works by building trust […]

Sweden Quran burnings: How the Kremlin benefits The Swedish government is dealing with increased terrorist threats sparked by repeated Quran burnings. Now Russia appears to be instrumentalizing the issue.

August 8, 2023 Teri Schultz

(Deutsche Welle) Husam El Gomati scrolls through his phone and points at a long post in Arabic. “Mohammad Ahmad Ali, the most typical name, with some funny picture,” he notes. Scrolling through the post, El Gomati confirms what he expected: “Yeah, you’re […]

Germany: Woman sentenced for ‘IS’ membership, breach of care The 33-year-old had been accused of going to Syria in 2016 along with her children and joining the terrorist group.

July 17, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A Frankfurt court on Monday handed a German woman a two-year suspended prison sentence due to her past involvement with the so-called “Islamic State” (IS). “She promoted the organization from within,” the presiding judge said of the 33-year-old woman from the [central […]

Germany: Hostility toward Muslims is widespread How great is the resentment, racism and discrimination against Germany's 5.5 million Muslims? The Federal Interior Ministry's findings paint a bleak picture.

June 29, 2023 Sabine Kinkartz

(Deutsche Welle) A hostile attitude toward Muslims is widespread in large sections of German society. Its manifestations are an everyday reality. One in two people in Germany agrees with anti-Muslim statements. These are the findings published this Thursday (June 29) by the Independent […]

German police swoop on ‘Islamic State’ finance network Police in Germany have carried out raids on the financing network of the so-called 'Islamic State' terror group, arresting several suspects.

May 31, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Prosecutors in Karlsruhe on Wednesday said more than 1,000 federal and state police were involved in raids across several states on an alleged terrorist financing network. Seven suspects were arrested on suspicion of collecting donations and forwarding them to the so-called “Islamic […]

Police raid suspected human traffickers in Berlin, Halle Some 400 police officers have taken part in raids against suspected people smugglers in eastern Germany.

March 15, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German police carried out a large-scale operation against suspected human traffickers in the capital Berlin and the eastern German city of Halle an der Saale on Wednesday morning. The gang of traffickers is accused of having smuggled mainly Turkish and Iraqi […]

Germany debates tougher deportation rules A deadly knife attack on a German regional train has triggered a debate on deportation laws and their application. The suspect, a Palestinian, was living in Germany despite his criminal record.

January 31, 2023 Volker Witting

(Deutsche Welle) Two weeks ago, a knife attack shook Germany when a man traveling on a regional train headed for Hamburg randomly stabbed passengers, killing two of them. The alleged perpetrator, 33-year-old Ibrahim A.*, was known to the police, as he had multiple prior convictions […]

Does the EU have hijab bans? As women around the world mark World Hijab Day, people are calling on the European Union to create safer spaces for conversations about the Muslim headscarf.

January 31, 2023 Priyanka Shankar

(Deutsche Welle) Across the European Union, the headscarves worn by some Muslim women have been hotly contested for years. Some nations claim hijab bans would tackle religious oppression and terrorism, while others argue bans would discriminate against women’s rights and hamper integration. Some EU countries have already imposed […]

Germany: 2 killed, several injured in train knife attack Two people have been killed and seven wounded in a knife attack on a train in Germany. The attack took place in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein that borders Denmark. A young man is in police custody.

January 25, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A man with a knife killed two people and wounded seven more on a regional train running from Kiel to Hamburg on Wednesday. A suspect was arrested at a small train station in the town of Brokstedt soon after the […]

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” […]

German court opens trial of suspected ‘Islamic State’ member A 37-year-old German woman is accused of crimes against humanity for her time with the so-called 'Islamic State.' Nadine K. is accused of 'enslaving' a Yazidi woman in Syria and Iraq.

January 11, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A court in the western German city of Koblenz on Wednesday began the proceedings against a German national accused of assisting the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. What do we know so far about the […]

Germany: No toxins found in anti-terror garage searches German police have searched two garages in connection with a suspected planned bioweapon attack. A top official has meanwhile criticized Germany's reticence in using the internet for intelligence gathering.

January 9, 2023 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Police searches of two garages used by a terrorist suspect in the western German town of Castrop-Rauxel on Monday failed to uncover any hazardous substances, according to authorities. “We have found nothing in the end that can be used as […]

Germany: Bavaria train attacker handed 14-year jail sentence The 28-year-old pulled a knife on four passengers on a high-speed train in the southern state of Bavaria last November. The trial focused on whether his attack was motivated by Islamic extremism or schizophrenia.

December 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) The man who carried out a knife attack on a German high-speed train was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday. A court in Munich found that Abdalrahman A. was culpable despite claims he was mentally ill at the time. […]

What’s behind Morocco fan violence in Belgium? It has become somewhat of a pattern that violence breaks out between fans and police in Belgium following Morocco World Cup matches. But what’s fueling the clashes?

December 9, 2022 Aya Ibrahim

(Deutsche Welle) Following Morocco’s World Cup win over Belgium, some Morocco supporters turned violent on the streets of Belgian cities. In Brussels, a car was set ablaze and at least one person was injured. Parts of the capital were sealed off. Police […]

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 […]

Germany: Würzburg attacker still highly dangerous, says doctor A psychiatrist has told a German court that the man accused of carrying out multiple fatal stabbings in June 2021 suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Three people were killed and nine others were injured in the attack.

July 22, 2022 Nik Martin

(Deutsche Welle) A German court on Friday heard that the man who allegedly killed three people and injured nine others in the southern central city of Würzburg last summer is mentally ill and still very dangerous if he does not undergo successful treatment. Somali national Jibril A., […]

Antisemitism ‘deeply rooted’ in German society A new study has bad news on antisemitism in Germany. Far-right sympathizers and observant Muslims bear the brunt of the blame, but all corners of society have their blindspots.

May 10, 2022 Christoph Strack

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s security services registered 3,028 antisemitic crimes in 2021. That is the highest official count since police statistics started tracking the figures. Now, the American Jewish Committee contracted the Allensbach Institute to conduct a representative survey on societal attitudes toward […]

IS member arrested in Germany accused of raising funds in Europe According to the German prosecutor's office, the woman traveled to Syria in 2013 with her husband to join the organization.

March 12, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A German citizen accused of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist organization was arrested this Friday upon arrival at the Frankfurt airport (southern Germany), as announced today (03.12.2022) by the State Attorney General’s Office. The woman, who was identified […]

Germany: Suspected ‘IS’ wife charged with war crimes The German national is believed to have married several members of the 'Islamic State' terrorist organization. One of her alleged husbands had kept a Yazidi woman as a slave.

February 9, 2022 Wesley Dockery

(Deutsche Welle) German authorities have pressed war crimes charges against a suspected member of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS), the federal prosecutor general in Karlsruhe announced Wednesday. What do we know so far? The German national, Jalda A., is believed to have married several members of […]

German woman faces crimes against humanity charges after joining IS as a teen A German woman who went to Syria to join the extremist IS group as a 15-year-old is in the dock in the eastern city of Halle. She and her jihadi husband are suspected of having enslaved a Yazidi woman.

January 25, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A German woman accused of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity while a member of the extremist “Islamic State” (IS) group in Syria went on trial behind closed doors in the eastern city of Halle on Tuesday. Leonora M., who went to […]

5 years later, Germany remembers victims of Berlin Christmas market terror attack On December 19, 2016, Islamist attacker Anis Amri drove a stolen truck through a crowd in central Berlin, killing and injuring dozens. Five years later, the background to the attack remains unclear.

December 19, 2021 Oliver Pieper

(Deutsche Welle) The bells of Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz will ring 13 times this Sunday at exactly 8:02 p.m., once for each of the victims of the 2016 terror attack at a nearby Christmas market. The time marks the […]

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.

December 10, 2021 Unlisted Author

(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 […]

Many more Afghans seek EU asylum after Taliban takeover Citizens of Afghanistan were by far the biggest group of people applying for asylum in the EU, Switzerland and Norway in September 2021.

December 3, 2021 Darko Janjevic

(Deutsche Welle) Over 17,000 Afghans filed asylum claims in the European Union, Switzerland and Norway in September of 2021, compared to around 10,000 in August, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) said on Friday. This represents a 72% increase compared to August, […]

German court finds former ‘IS’ member guilty of genocide A German court has found a former 'Islamic State' member guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity for the 2015 killing of a 5-year-old girl, sentencing him to life in prison.

November 30, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Frankfurt’s Higher Regional Court on Tuesday found 29-year-old Taha A.-J. guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity resulting in death, sentencing him to life in prison. The Frankfurt case is the first in the world to decide whether a former member […]

German national gets 10-year sentence for murder committed in Syria German jihadi Nils D. has been found guilty of torturing a man to death while serving as guard at an 'Islamic State' prison.

November 27, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A Düsseldorf court has sentenced a German national to 10 years behind bars for murder on Friday. The man, named as Nils D. under German privacy laws, tortured a man to death at a prison run by the so-called “Islamic […]

Germany: Police rule out terrorism in Bavaria train attack The man who stabbed four people on a German train on Saturday is believed to have been suffering from delusions that people were 'following him.' Police have not found any link to terrorist motivation for the attack.

November 7, 2021 Alex Berry

(Deutsche Welle) The man who stabbed four people on a train in the southern state of Bavaria on Saturday did so “indiscriminately,” police said during a press conference Sunday presenting the first results of their investigation into the attack. Prosecutor Gerhard Neuhof said […]

Germany: Several injured in knife attack on train The attack took place on an Intercity Express (ICE) train between the southern German cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg. Police have reported several injuries.

November 6, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German Federal Police on Saturday said there was a knife attack on a train in the southern German state of Bavaria, resulting in several injuries. The train was traveling near Neumarkt between the cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg at the […]

Vienna honors victims of terror attack 1 year later Austrian leaders have taken part in a memorial service to remember the people killed during a shooting spree in central Vienna in 2020. Criticism remains over the government's actions in the run-up to the violence.

November 2, 2021 Alex Berry

(Deutsche Welle) Vienna marked one year on Tuesday since a deadly terror attack that left four people dead. On November 2, 2020, a sympathizer of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group shot and killed four people in the Austrian capital before he himself was […]

German court jails IS bride for crimes against humanity A Bavarian court has handed a 10-year prison sentence to a German woman who allowed a 5-year-old Yazidi 'slave' girl to die of thirst.

October 25, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) The Munich Higher Regional Court has imprisoned a German woman for 10 years after hearing she stood idly by as a 5-year-old Yazidi “slave” girl was left to die of thirst in the sun. Monday’s conviction of the 30-year-old Jennifer […]

Germany: Cologne’s mosques to play call to prayer on Fridays Cologne's mayor said allowing the muezzin call to be heard was a 'sign of respect.' Under a new agreement, the city's mosques will be able to broadcast their call to prayer for two years, subject to renewal.

October 11, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) The Central Mosque of Cologne will be permitted to broadcast its call to prayer over loudspeakers on Friday afternoons, officials said on Monday. All 35 mosques in the western German city will now be able to play the call for up to five […]

Germany investigates man on suspicion of spying for Turkey Police have arrested a Turkish man in Düsseldorf possessing weapons and a list of supporters of the Gulen movement, which the Turkish government has labeled 'terrorists.'

October 1, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s federal prosecutor general announced Friday that the investigation resulting from a raid on a Düsseldorf hotel that saw the arrest of a Turkish man identified as Ali D. was being treated as a case of suspected espionage on behalf of the […]

Germany: Judge orders Hagen synagogue suspect to be remanded in custody Prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect detained on Thursday for his alleged role in planning an attack during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

September 17, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) A 16-year-old accused of planning an “Islamist-motivated” attack on a synagogue in the western German city of Hagen was remanded in custody on Friday, the Düsseldorf prosecutors office said. The young Syrian national who lives in Hagen was detained Thursday. […]

German police foil ‘Islamist’ attack on a synagogue Police have released three people arrested over a possible attack on a synagogue in the western city of Hagen ahead of a major Jewish holiday. Authorities believe the threat was motivated by 'Islamist ideology.'

September 16, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German police arrested four people Thursday, including a teenager, over a threat of an attack on a synagogue on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Hagen police said they made the arrests as a result of their investigation into the threat and […]

Germany indicts 4 for supporting al-Nusra in Syria German federal prosecutors have said they indicted four men on suspicion of providing help to Islamist militant group Jabhat al-Nusra.

September 16, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German federal prosecutors on Thursday said they had indicted four men on suspicion of supporting Islamist extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra. One of the men is also accused of joining the group and traveling to Syria to fight with the breakaway […]

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.

September 4, 2021 Matthias von Hein

(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 […]

Germany arrests suspected ‘Islamic State’ fundraiser A woman has been detained in southern Germany on suspicion of aiding the terror group 'Islamic State.' Prosecutors believe she may have helped organize money transfers to militants in the Middle East.

August 30, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German federal prosecutors arrested a woman on Monday suspected of collecting money for the extremist “Islamic State” (IS) group and helping with bank transfers to the Middle East. The suspect, identified only as Denise S., is thought to have been in contact with […]

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.

August 9, 2021 Unlisted Author

(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 […]

German court sentences IS widow over Yazidi slaves A court in Hamburg has sentenced the widow of an 'Islamic State' terrorist to extra jail time. The woman admitted to using enslaved Yazidi girls to clean her home.

July 22, 2021 Richard Connor

(Deutsche Welle) A German court on Thursday sentenced the woman, Omaima A., to additional jail time for using slave women to clean her home. The 37-year-old, already convicted of belonging to the “Islamic State” (IS) militant group, had already admitted the offense, the […]

German police raid suspected IS supporters Ten warrants were executed across the German state of Hesse on suspicion of financing a terror group. The accused include eight men and two women between the ages of 20 and 51.

July 14, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Police in the German state of Hesse searched multiple locations in connection with investigations involving suspected “Islamic State” extremists, local authorities said Wednesday morning. Ten search warrants were executed across the state “on suspicion of terrorist financing and the preparation […]

Vienna terror attack: Police search suspects’ homes in Germany German officials said the raids were carried out in the homes of one German and one Kosovar national.

July 7, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) German police announced Wednesday they raided the homes of two alleged accomplices of the November 2020 terror attack in Vienna that left four dead and more than 20 injured. The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe said the two accused, […]

France hopes deporting more alleged radicals will bring security France has repatriated more than half the people it defined as radical Islamists living in the country without a residence permit since 2018. Now it wants to extend the penalty and deport even more.

July 4, 2021 Andreas Noll

(Deutsche Welle) When French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin summoned the country’s regional prefects in June, his message was clear. The authorities in France’s regions had to take swift, decisive action against foreigners who committed crimes. Residence permits should be reviewed, and more offenders […]

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, […]

Germany: Würzburg holds vigil for knife attack victims At an emotional memorial service, Würzburg mourned the deaths of three women who were killed in a knife attack. With the motive still unclear, officials urged against responding to the attack with 'hate and revenge.'

June 27, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder attended a memorial service on Sunday for the victims of the knife attack in the city of Würzburg, around 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) east of Frankfurt. “We cannot answer such a hateful deed with hate and revenge,” […]

German Islamic teacher’s license revoked for being too liberal Abdel-Hakim Ourghi has written books including 'You Don't Have to Wear a Headscarf' and 'Reform Islam: 40 Theses.' His application to train other Islamic teachers was turned down for vague reasons.

June 26, 2021 Leah Carter

(Deutsche Welle) A German Islamic scholar has had his teaching license rejected because of his “liberal theological convictions,” one of his peers told a newspaper on Saturday. Islam expert Susanne Schröter spoke out in support of Abdel-Hakim Ourghi, who headed the Islamic […]

Europol: Violent extremists take advantage of COVID-19 pandemic A new report on terrorist activity in the EU has highlighted the threat of online propaganda during the pandemic. The research shows Islamist and far-right extremists have posed the greatest threat.

June 22, 2021 Alex Berry

(Deutsche Welle) The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the spread of violent ideologies, according to a new report published by the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol on Tuesday. The report highlighted the prominence of online propaganda in building communities and encouraging lone wolf […]

German government agrees to ban Hamas flag after antisemitic incidents The German government wants to send a message to Jewish citizens after several antisemitic incidents took place amid pro-Palestinian protests last month.

June 20, 2021 Wesley Dockery

(Deutsche Welle) All parties in Germany’s grand coalition government have agreed to ban the flag of Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said in a report published Sunday. The move comes after several antisemitic incidents occurred last month in […]

Austria’s Muslim youth file lawsuit against ‘Islam map’ The map, showing the names and location of over 600 mosques and associations in the country, has sparked outcry.

May 29, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Muslim Youth Austria (MJO) is filing a lawsuit against the country’s controversial “Map of Political Islam,” the group announced on Saturday. The map, showing the names and location of over 600 mosques and associations in Austria and their possible links abroad, […]

Germany carries out raids on Hezbollah-linked groups The three groups have been banned for allegedly collecting money for the families of Hezbollah fighters. The Lebanese militants have been active opponents of Israel.

May 19, 2021 Unlisted Author

(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Interior Ministry has outlawed three organizations accused of collecting money for the militant Iran-backed movement Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bans against German Lebanese Family, People for Peace and Give Peace came into effect on Wednesday, but had already been pronounced […]

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.

May 5, 2021 Unlisted Author

(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 […]

Muslims in Germany: Religion not a good gauge of integration A study shows that the number of Muslims in Germany has significantly risen compared to 2015 and many still face challenges in employment and education. But religion may only be a minor cause of these challenges.

April 28, 2021 Elliot Douglas

(Deutsche Welle) “Wir schaffen das” — “We can do it.” Those were the now-famous words that German Chancellor Angela Merkel used in 2015 to indicate that Germany was prepared and able to take in a large number of refugees — ultimately around […]