German court examines grants given to charity accused of Brotherhood ties
To our knowledge, the Muslim Brotherhood is more in the focus of the security agencies than ever before COLLETTA MANEMANN Bonn Integration Commissioner
German officials have accused Islamic Relief Worldwide of having significant connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, triggering concerns among politicians about funds being diverted to extremists.
A submission to the German parliament revealed that the powerful Federal Court of Audit was examining grants to Islamic Relief – which was founded in Birmingham in the UK – worth €6.1 million (Dh25.3m) in the years to 2016. It said Islamic Relief was connected to Muslim Brotherhood groups not only in Europe but around the world.
MP Oliver Luksic said the information was alarming.
“It is a scandal that German taxpayers’ money is going to go to Islamists,” he said.
His centrist Free Democratic Party called on the German government to address the issue as an “urgent problem” and said its refusal to accept concerns expressed by parliament was a matter of deep concern.
Most of the German funding provided to Islamic Relief Worldwide was designated for projects in Syria.
The UAE designated Islamic Relief Worldwide a terrorist organisation in 2014 over its links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Concerns over the provenance of funds led global banking company HSBC to shut down Islamic Relief’s accounts in 2016, as Swiss banking corporation UBS had done four years earlier.
The announcement of a German review into official funding of Brotherhood-related groups comes amid growing concern over the group’s growing influence in the country.
The most recent published intelligence assessment said that there were an estimated 1,040 Brotherhood activists active in Germany. It further said the group exerted active control over 50 mosques or Islamic centres.
After concerns about the group’s underground influence at centres in Bonn, Colletta Manemann, the city’s Integration Commissioner, said that mosque-goers were being targeted by the group.
“To our knowledge, the Brotherhood is more in the focus of the security agencies than ever before,” she said. “We welcome that.”
Tarek Abdelalem, chief executive of Islamic Relief Worldwide, told German newspapers that the assessment was wrong. “We have no contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.
On its website the group sets out its history of working with governments since it was founded in Britain by Egyptian Hany El Banna.
It became the first specialist Muslim charity to gain British government funding for projects in Africa in 1994.
It signed a framework partnership with the EU in 2002 and became a member of the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee, which distributes funds from nationwide appeals in 2005. In Britain alone, its Ramadan campaign raises more than £10 million (Dh47.9m) a year.
Political concerns in Germany about the Brotherhood have led to warnings that groups such as the Islamic Community of Germany, known by the initials IGD, seeks to be the government’s recognised partner in dealing with Muslim-focused issues of policy and community relations.
The official intelligence report said members actively concealed their ideological beliefs.
“The goal of the IGD is to be the recognised contact point in Germany for established Islam,” it said.
“It therefore pursues a Muslim Brotherhood ideology-oriented strategy of influence in the political and social sphere.
“At public appearances, confessions to the Muslim Brotherhood and any anti-constitutional statements are avoided.
“Nevertheless, the activities of the IGD centres are rooted in the ideological orientation of the Muslim Brotherhood, including negative attitudes towards western values and an antipathy to democracy.”