DÜSSELDORF- German authorities on Thursday issued orders to block an Islamist website in an effort to combat extremism.
The orders were issued to the country’s five largest telecommunications companies, the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM) said, with smaller providers to follow suit.
The organisation operating the website – Hizb ut-Tahrir – has been banned in Germany since 2003, but the German-language website “kalifat.com,” which translates as “caliphate.com,” has been accessible regardless.
Hizb ut-Tahrir – Arabic for Party of Liberation – is an international pan-Islamist political organization whose stated aim is to establish a caliphate, a form of rule based on Sharia law.
As of Thursday noon, kalifat.com was still accessible in Germany.
In the latest publication posted on Wednesday, the authors criticize Russia’s recognition of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers “as part of a broader process whereby the current regime is gradually being absorbed into the secular, international system of nation states.”
The KMJ justified the move, saying the website’s German-language content “disseminates Islamist propaganda to a considerable extent, calls for the overthrow of governments in Muslim-majority countries and the establishment of a global caliphate, and thus poses a concrete threat to peace and social cohesion.”
“Anyone who stirs up hatred against people of other faiths is against all of us and will be stopped using all the legal means at our disposal,” said KJM head Marc Jan Eumann.
Some six months ago, the authority blocked the Arabic- and English-language websites of Lebanese TV station Al-Manar in Germany. Al-Manar is considered a mouthpiece for the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. (dpa/NAN)
