German intelligence services targeting Muslims

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, American and European security services have been given wide powers to classify Muslim organizations as “legitimate” or not.

Two recent reports, issued by the International Crisis Group and the Open Society Institute EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program, criticized how the Verfassungsschutz (German intelligence services) have been handling what they call the “Islamist threat”.

“Islam and Identity in Germany”, the report by the International Crisis Group, accused the German intelligence services of applying a slippery slope view of “Islamic extremism.”

On the other hand, Nina Mühe, a cultural anthropologist at the Open Society Institute EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program said that German intelligence services have been provided with a misleading definition that makes it hard for them to differentiate between real and misguided Muslims.

Although Muslims living in Germany are estimated at around 3 to 3.2 million, Verfassungsschutzc classifies any Islamic group as an “automatic threat to the state.”

In 2003, supporters of the Caliphate State, Hezbollah, Hamas and Hizb Ut-Tahir were banned from the country, while Iranian organizations, including the Islamic Center in Hamburg and Imam Ali Mosque, are currently under observation.

The two reports heavily criticized the intelligence services’ treatment to Milli Görüs (IGMG), which represents a large number of Turkish-Germans. According to the Open Society paper, Christian organizations, who have attempted to work with Milli Görüs are being discouraged from doing so.

In December 2006, the Ministry of Interior withdrew from funding a conference to promote Evangelische Akademie Loccum’s charity work in East Africa. The withdrawal came after the ministry learnt that a participant- and one of the initiators of this inter-faith project - was Mustafa Yoldas, a member of Milli Görüs. In a challenge to the ministry decision, Evangelische Akademie invited Yoldas in appreciation for his work.

This wasn’t the only challenge that the German intelligence faced as Milli Görüs filed lawsuits accusing the Verfassungsschutzc of unfair innuendos and accusations. Court orders were in favor of the Milli Görüs, which currently prevents officials from reprinting “falsehoods and hearsay” against the organization.

There is a series of victory cases for members of Milli Görüs as the administrative court in Hessen granted four members of the organization the German citizenship even though the organization was under observation by the Verfassungsschutz.

Nina Mühe points out in her report, though centre-left and left parties may have more liberal views when it comes to immigration, when it comes to the Muslim community they can fall prey to Islamophobia, as they have “stronger resentments ... nourished by a mixture of feminism and secularism”.

-- AJP and Agencies