Investigations against aid network
Raid against IS sympathizers – seven arrests
05/31/2023 09:32 am
They are said to have solicited money online for suspected supporters of the terrorist militia IS living in a camp controlled by Kurds. The federal prosecutor’s office has investigators deployed in ten federal states. Seven people are arrested. Most have German citizenship
The federal prosecutor’s office has arrested seven suspected supporters of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). In addition, there were searches in Berlin, Bavaria, Bremen, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia in the morning, the Karlsruhe authority said. It was about a financing network of the IS.
According to the information, four of the arrests were made in North Rhine-Westphalia, one more each in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bremen. The country’s highest prosecuting authority accuses the men and women – mostly German nationals – of supporting a terrorist organization.
The background to the raid is fundraising for suspected supporters of the terrorist militia IS. The campaigns on social media with titles like “Your sister in the camp” have been running for several years. They serve the purpose of providing financial support to IS women who have been living with their children in Syria since the terrorist militia’s military defeat, especially in the Al-Hol camp controlled by Kurdish groups.
smuggling for money
There were repeated reports that women, children and young people who still feel they belong to the IS were smuggled out of the camp in exchange for large sums of money. Of the dozens of IS women who have returned to Germany in recent years, many have been arrested and tried after their arrival. Some of them came to Germany with their children from Syria via return campaigns, others were deported or came back on their own.
Since the beginning of January 2014, according to the Criminal Code, acts by members or supporters of IS who are German citizens, reside in Germany or work here can be prosecuted. On September 12, 2014, the Ministry of the Interior also issued a ban on IS activity in Germany. This includes, among other things, any participation in social media and demonstrations in favor of the IS and any kind of support act such as raising money and material as well as recruiting fighters. These acts have been punishable since then.