The German government’s efforts to ban a group from raising funds for the militant Islamic movement Hamas and the families of suicide bombers were thwarted Wednesday when a federal court effectively lifted the ban. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, in handing down the ruling, said the al-Aqsa group must be allowed to continue its fund- raising activities until its legal status is finally determined. Last August, the German government slapped a ban on the group calling itself al-Aqsa in the western German city of Aachen, with Interior Minister Otto Schily calling the group a security threat. All funds and property belonging to al-Aqsa were confiscated. "We do not tolerate terrorist activity in Germany or groups that support it abroad," said Schily at the time.
| Not until a sympathetic judge steps into the picture, anyway... |
Schily said al-Aqsa, which was founded in 1991 as a welfare group for Arabs, had instead been raising money for Hamas and pledging aid to families of those who carried out suicide bombings against Israel. Al-Aqsa subsequently filed an appeal against the ban. In Wednesday’s ruling, the Leipzig court said the group can continue its fund-raising efforts pending outcome of the appeal. Legal experts said it could be years before the court case reaches a conclusion.
*Sigh* |