Info:
The Islamic center in Hamburg plays a pivotal role in expanding Iranian regime’s influence and promoting its ideology in Germany. In 2009, the center created an umbrella organization called “the Islamic Association of Shiite Congregations in Germany” (IGS). According to Fars News, a news website tied to Iran Revolutionary Guards. “the IGS is largest Shiites organization in Germany with 500.000 members. 152 Mosques and Islamic centers representing muslin immigrants from different countries work with IGS.”;
The chairman of IGS’s “scholar board” is the Iranian cleric Reza Ramezani, the head of the Islamic Center in Hamburg (IZH) who is currently a member of Iran’s “Assembly of Experts” and according to government press in Tehran and the German newspaper Bild, “is the representative of Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Germany.”. The head of IGS is the Iranian cleric Mahmoud Khalil Zadeh who is the Imam of Islamic Center in Frankfurt;
IGS is the main organizer of annual anti-Semitic Al Quds Day rally in Berlin, a global event sponsored by the Iranian regime. According to Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “the Iranian regime-owned Islamic Center of Hamburg charters buses with the Iranian regime and Hezbollah supporters to travel to Berlin to march in the al-Quds Day rally.”;
German officials maintain a friendly relation with IGS and Sigmar Gabriel, the vice chancellor of Germany has been a regular guest at IGS public events. These high-level relations illustrate the Iranian regime’s success to establish a strong presence in Germany while pursuing an extremist agenda at the heart of Europe. A revealing example is the annual Quds day rally that is organized by IGS and the Islamic center of Hamburg. An event designed to fuel anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli hatred and help the Iranian regime present itself as the champion of the Palestinian cause and the leader of the Islamic world;
On April 30, 2018, the German President hosted a meeting with a delegation from “the Islamic Association of Shiite Congregations in Germany “ (IGS), an umbrella organization created and controlled by the Iranian regime that covers a large number of Mosques and Islamic center in Germany;
Also Known As:
IGS
German Shiite Federation
The Islamic Association of Shiite Congregations in Germany
Country:
Germany
Person of interests:
Mahmoud Khalil Zadeh
Reza Ramezani
Reason for the color:
» Iranian regime’s network of Islamic Centers, seminaries and Mosques in Europe;