The combo photo shows Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani and Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. (Photo by Iran’s Foreign Ministry)
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani says Germany’s “political” move to shut down the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and its subsidiary organizations aims to serve the Israeli regime’s interests.
In a phone conversation with Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday, Bagheri Kani strongly condemned the German police’s “illegal” move to ban the Islamic centers in the European country, including the IZH, saying it runs counter to human rights principles.
“The closure of Islamic centers in Germany is a completely political action in line with Islamophobia and serving the interests of the Zionist regime. The German government must accept its consequences,” he added.
Germany’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday it had “banned the Hamburg Islamic Centre and its affiliated organizations throughout Germany to date, as it is an Islamist extremist organization pursuing anti-constitutional objectives.”
The center is accused of supporting Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement, which Berlin designates as a “terrorist” organization, as well as promoting “aggressive anti-Semitism” and spreading “authoritarian, theocratic rule.”
As part of the ban, the ministry said it will also close four Shia mosques, including Hamburg’s Blue Mosque, one of Germany’s oldest mosques.
The German foreign minister, for her part, said Islamic centers in Germany can pursue their rights through legal mechanisms.
Baerbock stressed the importance of solving the differences and expressed hope that the existing obstacles in mutual relations will be removed through dialogue and diplomatic channels.
In a post on his X account on Thursday, Bagheri Kani said the decision by German judicial and law enforcement authorities on the inspection of premises affiliated to IZH is an unjustified move and flouts all principles of freedom of religion and thought.
He added that the measure is a gift to extremists, violence mongers and advocates of terrorism.
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