Germany bans Ansaar International, raids Islamist group’s premises

Berlin (dpa), 5 May, 2021 - German authorities raided the premises of Ansaar International across the country on Wednesday after Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a ban on the Islamist organisation and its sub-groups.

“If you want to fight terror, you have to dry up its sources of money,” Seehofer said. “Those who collect donations for apparently charitable purposes, but then finance terrorism, cannot be allowed to hide behind our laws on association.”

The Interior Ministry said it believed the group’s missionary activities were in contravention of the German constitution, charging that “enemies were constantly being created of a world order that safeguards the dignity of those of other beliefs.”

German children were being sent to facilities set up abroad where they were indoctrinated with “extremist Salafist ideas” to bring back to Germany, it said.

Ansaar International said Joel Abdurahman Kayser, its founder and head, had written to Seehofer in April stating: “We at Ansaar love and live the idea of understanding between all nations.”