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Germany bans Islamic center over alleged Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood ties
Berlin — Authorities in the German state of Brandenburg on Thursday banned an Islamic center in the town of Fürstenwalde over alleged affiliations with the militant groups Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Interior Ministry of Brandenburg state, which surrounds Berlin, said the decision to force the closure and ban all operations of the Islamic Center Fürstenwalde al-Salam association (IZF) was made after a series of coordinated police raids earlier in the day.
Authorities searched the association’s premises in Fürstenwalde as well as several private residences across Brandenburg and in Berlin, which, like Washington D.C., is an independent region that does not sit within any state’s boundaries.
The operation’s aim was to secure evidence supporting allegations of extremist activities linked to the IZF, the ministry said.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the IZF was involved in activities “directed against the idea of international understanding and the constitutional order,” justifying the ban. It said about 30 people at the association, which, along with its associated mosque was a relatively small organization, were suspected of connections with Hamas.
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Interior Minister Michael Stübgen said Brandenburg was committed to safeguarding democratic values and maintaining public security but said the state “cannot tolerate associations that are directed against the constitutional order or the idea of international understanding.”
Founded in 2018, the IZF had operated the al-Salam mosque and provided a variety of services to the local Muslim community, including Friday prayers, educational programs, summer camps and religious training for children.
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, however, classified the IZF an extremist organization in July 2023, citing the promotion of antisemitic narratives, denial of Israel’s right to exist and dissemination of content associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood was briefly elected to power in Egypt but has since been designated a terrorist organization by the country’s new leadership, which came to power by overthrowing the group. The U.S. government has not formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but Hamas has carried the designation for more than two decades.
Thursday’s raids around Berlin were part of a broader effort to curb extremism and prevent radicalization, particularly among young people in Germany.
“Young people do not become extremists in a vacuum,” Stübgen said. “There are always perfidious radicalization strategies by extremist organizations behind this.”
“This evil must be tackled at its roots,” he said. “We also owe this to those Muslims who live here in good faith and once fled from Islamists.”
During the raids, the ministry said police seized documents, electronic devices and other items that could show further links between the IZF and extremist propaganda and support for organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
The raids came just weeks after authorities in neighboring Austria, acting on intelligence provided by U.S. authorities, foiled an alleged ISIS-linked terror plot to target fans at Taylor Swift Eras Tour concerts in the country, forcing their cancellation.
Germany has faced numerous attacks by extremists, including by people motivated by radical Islam, and the federal and state governments have intensified their commitments to tackle religious and political radicalization by working closely with the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The German government is also under pressure to show it is addressing the issue amid the rise of far-right, anti-Islam and anti-immigrant nationalist political parties, particularly in the east.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
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Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
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Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
