Meftah, the former head of the Islamic Center of Hamburg, was forced to leave Germany.
Mohammad Hadi Meftah, the former head of the Islamic Center of Hamburg, left Germany after a two-week deadline to leave the country. Less than two months ago, Germany banned the activities of the Islamic Center of Hamburg.
The German news agency ZDF wrote that shortly before the specified deadline for Mr. Meftah ended, he himself left the country on the evening of Tuesday. The order for Mohammad Hadi Meftah to leave Germany was enforced after he was classified as an extremist.
Officials from the Hamburg Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday that this 57-year-old Shia cleric left the country on Tuesday, September 10th. He is banned from returning to Germany for 20 years. If he had not left Germany, he would have faced a penalty of up to three years in prison.
Andy Grote, the Minister of the Interior for the state of Hamburg, expressed satisfaction with Mohammad Hadi Meftah’s departure from Germany, saying that this event means one of the highest-ranking representatives of the Iranian regime has left Germany, and one of the most well-known Islamists is no longer in Hamburg.
The former head of the Islamic Center of Hamburg had filed a complaint against his expulsion order with the Hamburg Administrative Court before leaving Germany.
Deutsche Welle, quoting a spokesperson for the Hamburg Administrative Court, wrote that Mr. Meftah’s complaint was filed as an urgent request on the evening of Tuesday, September 10th, 48 hours before the deadline. The spokesperson added that this request does not affect his deadline to leave Germany.