Issuance of a dismissal order for "Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh", director of the Hamburg Islamic Center

A spokesman for the German Interior Ministry announced the issuance of an expulsion order for Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, the director of the Hamburg Islamic Center.

According to German media reports, a spokesman for the Hamburg state Ministry of Internal Security announced the expulsion of 57-year-old Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, who was the head of the Islamic center, this week (after the Hamburg Islamic Center was closed last month).

The Hamburg Islamic Center was closed last month after the German government declared it an extremist Islamic organization with ties to the Islamic Republic and the Lebanese Hezbollah group. Immediately after the closure, the German Interior Ministry declared the center a direct representative of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader and accused it of aggressively promoting the ideology of the Iranian regime.

The 220-page order to close and ban the activities of the Hamburg Islamic Center issued by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior shows that the center's relations with Ali Khamenei's office were very close and how these connections also extended to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to documents obtained by Der Spiegel, Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh was in constant contact via WhatsApp with Mehdi Mostafavi, the deputy deputy for communications and international affairs in the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and Mehdi Mostafavi gave Mofatteh precise instructions in these chats in 2023, including messages from Ali Khamenei for Germans who were going to the Hamburg Islamic Center. In addition, the content of the aforementioned messages was also the focus of the center's activities in 2024.

Now, the ruling issued to expel the head of the Hamburg Islamic Center states that Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh must leave German territory by September 11, 2024. He is also not allowed to re-enter Germany or reside in the country, and if he attempts to re-enter Germany, he will face up to three years in prison.

In response to the closure of the Islamic Center in Hamburg, the Iranian government has also sealed two branches of the German language education institute that operated under the supervision of the German Embassy in Tehran in the past few weeks.

It is worth noting that the deportation order for Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh follows other deportations on the German political agenda, which began after the deadly knife attack in the city of Solingen by an ISIS member.