BERLIN (GERMANY) – Islamic organisation Ansaar International has been banned by Germany. The interior ministry of the country informed that the decision has been taken as it believes that the organisation has financed terrorism around the world.
“If you want to fight terror you have to dry up its sources of funding,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Twitter.
Ansaar and an affiliated organisation “spread a Salafist world view and finance terror around the world under the guise of humanitarian aid”, the minister said.
According to German daily, police searched buildings in 10 German states as part of the move to ban the organisation.
Police had in 2019 raided offices belonging Ansaar as well as WorldWide Resistance-Help, on suspicion of financing the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on a European Union terrorism blacklist.
Ansaar says on its website it provides humanitarian aid to people affected by war and crises by, for instance, building or financing the construction of hospitals, orphanages and schools.