Salafist groups.. Invisible terrorism is spreading in Germany

By: Ahmed Lamloum

The Federal Office for the  of Constitution Protection (German Internal Intelligence Agency) warned in its annual report last July that the numbers of Salafists in Germany had doubled, reaching about 11,000, twice the number of 2013.

According to the German security services, about 3,000 of these Salafists live in the northern state of Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, including 832 willing to use violence, while more than 250 are classified as “dangerous”.

“Radical Salafis are no longer in public, but they have not disappeared. Most of their activities are now taken away from the eyes of the majority of the community,” said the adviser to the anti-radical bureau, Hayat Orhoun, in his interview with Deutsche Welle.

More than one-third of Germany’s Muslims live in the northern state of Rhine-Westphalia because it is an industrial state with many jobs. Which explains why the Salafist stream has targeted the state, which is witnessing many events organized by Salafis to promote their radical interpretation of Islam.

One of the most famous campaigns is the controversial “Iqra” campaign. Members of the radical Islamist movement distributed free copies of the Qur’an in the markets and in the cities of the state.

“This organization represents an ideology that refutes the constitutional order and glorifies the armed jihad. It is preparing a unique site in Germany for the recruitment and mobilization of Islamists and people motivated by terrorism who want to travel to Syria and Iraq,” the ministry said in a statement.

A large number of German Salafis have become radicalized, many of whom have traveled to areas controlled by the terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria.

According to the Federal Office for the Constitution Protection, all those who carried out the terrorist attacks in Germany in the past years were saturated with Salafi ideas, including Anis Ameri, who carried out a terrorist attackon 19 December 2016, on the Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in the most terrorist attack Germany has witnessed so far.

“Attempts to attract more people in the Salafist stream are continuing through private meetings and also via the Internet,” said Burkehart Freier, director of intelligence in the northern state of Rhine-Westphalia, in an interview with the German newspaper Spiegel. “Although members of the Salafist stream are becoming less visible, they are still active and their movements are evolving over time.”

In an article published on the website of Deutsche Welle, German journalist Hans Pfeiffer explained that “the movements of the Salafis in the country are a source of concern, so the security services must follow their movements closely. There must be a penetration of the Salafist circles and their activities.”

Pfeiffer added that «Islamic extremism is pressing on the security services, but there is no alternative to address the attempts of some of them to commit crimes that threaten the stability of German society».