Berlin to deport Islamic center head accused of ties to Hezbollah, Iran

Germany is planning to deport the leader of an Islamic center it banned in July over alleged links to militant groups, an interior ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.

Investigators swooped on the Hamburg Islamic Center five weeks ago after concluding it was an "Islamist extremist organization" with links to Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Mohammad Mofatteh, 57, the former director of the center, has been ordered to leave Germany within 14 days and faces deportation if he does not comply, the spokeswoman said.

He will not be allowed to re-enter Germany and could face up to three years in prison if he does.

Andy Grote, interior minister for the state of Hamburg, said Mofatteh's deportation was "the next logical step" against the Hamburg Islamic Center.

"As a top religious representative of the inhumane regime in Tehran, his time in Germany has come to an end," he said.

On banning the center in July, Germany's interior ministry accused it of being a "direct representative of Iran's supreme leader" and spreading Tehran's ideology "in an aggressive and militant manner."

The ministry also accused the center of backing the "military and political dimension" of organizations like Hezbollah.

Germany considers Hezbollah a "Shiite terrorist organization" and in 2020 banned Hezbollah from carrying out activities on its soil.

Iran reacted angrily to the accusations and last week shut down a German language institute in Tehran in what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move.

The move against Mofatteh comes with deportations high on the political agenda in Germany after a deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen.

Three people were killed and eight injured in the rampage, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker and claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attack has reignited a bitter debate about immigration in Germany, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz promising to "do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and must not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported."