West’s ‘Velvet Glove’ Visible to All, Cleric Says after Islamic Center Ban in Germany
Hojat-ol-Islam Hamid Maleki, deputy director of Iran’s Islamic seminaries, slammed Germany’s controversial ban on the center during an interview with IQNA on Tuesday.
He recounted his trip to Germany two years ago for Muharram and delivering speeches at the center. He added that around 5,000 people attended one of these ceremonies, filling the venue to capacity.
Muslims from across Germany gathered at the center with love and affection, participating in the mourning rituals, listening to the speech, and recording videos and taking pictures, he added. “However, the police visited the center daily, questioning the activities and attempting to impose restrictions, despite knowing that only religious ceremonies were being held.”
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“This is how Western countries and the United States, which claim to champion freedom, deal with religious gatherings,” Maleki said.
“This is while they continue to support a child-killing and war criminal regime that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians,” he added, referring to the Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip since October last year.
“Their iron hand in a velvet glove has become clear for freedom-seekers across the globe,” he said, noting that this is why people and students, even inside these countries, are slamming the pro-Israeli policies.
“I believe that the German government is influenced by Israeli policies,” the cleric said.
“The West continues to back Israeli criminals because Israel is their illegitimate child in the Middle East and they want to pursue their interests there through this entity,” he noted.
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The German police raided 53 of the organization’s premises early on Wednesday. German police say that they acted based on a court order. The raided premises include centers in cities other than Hamburg, such as Frankfurt, Berlin, and Munich.
The German ministry claimed that the center has been supporting Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement which is banned in Germany.
The German ban will result in the closure of four Shia mosques in the country, including the iconic Imam Ali Mosque which is one of the oldest in Germany completed in 1965.
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The Islamic Centre of Hamburg is one of Germany's important and historic Islamic centers, established with the support of Ayatollah Boroujerdi.
It has published magazines in German and Persian and provided consulting services for the Shias of Hamburg. The center also boasts a library with over 6,000 titles on various Islamic and Shia subjects.
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