Head of banned Hamburg Islamic Centre fights deportation from Germany

The controversial former leader of the recently banned Islamic Centre Hamburg (IZH) in northern Germany filed court action on Wednesday to challenge a deportation order, hours before a deadline to leave the country.

Authorities in Hamburg at the end of August had ordered Mohammed Hadi Mofatteh to leave the country within two weeks and banned him from returning. That deadline runs out at midnight on Wednesday.

The IZH was outlawed in July after being classified as an extremist group by German authorities. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had described the IZH as "Iran's most important propaganda centre in Europe."

Germany's domestic intelligence agency found that Mofatteh was considered until recently the official representative in Germany of the Islamic Republic of Iran's hard-line Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

"Mofatteh is an accomplished representative of the current regime in Tehran. His family is firmly integrated into Iran's state-religious elite," according to the latest report by the agency.

He has led the IZH since 2018.

A court spokesman confirmed to dpa that the 57-year-old Mofatteh had filed an urgent appeal, but said the action does not necessarily suspend the deportation order.

The court spokesman said a timeline for court action on Mofatteh's application would depend in part on whether authorities seek to have him forcibly removed from the country.

The Hamburg Interior Authority said it would issue a statement on the matter on Wednesday afternoon.

German authorities also banned five other organizations affiliated with the IZH and confiscated assets and facilities run by all six groups.

Since then, the IZH-run Blue Mosque in Hamburg has also remained closed.

The IZH has claimed that Mofatteh is the highest spiritual authority for Shiite Muslims in continental Europe.