HAMBURG, Sept 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The former head of an Islamic centre in Germany banned for its alleged links to extremist groups has left the country after being served with a deportation order, local authorities said Wednesday.

Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, who was the head of the Hamburg Islamic Centre before it was banned in July, left Germany on Tuesday evening, the Hamburg interior ministry said in a statement.

Mofatteh, 57, had been ordered two weeks ago to leave Germany by Wednesday or face being deported at his own expense.

He will not be allowed to re-enter Germany for 20 years and could face up to three years in prison if he does, the ministry said. 

Andy Grote, interior minister for the state of Hamburg, described Mofatteh as "one of Germany's most prominent Islamists".

"We will continue to take a tough line against Islamists with all legal means at our disposal," he said in a statement.

Investigators swooped on the Hamburg Islamic Centre in July after concluding it was an "Islamist extremist organisation" with links to Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group. 

Iran reacted angrily to the accusations and shut down a German language institute in Tehran in what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move.
Mofatteh's exit comes with the threat from Islamist extremists high on the political agenda in Germany after a deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen in late August.

Three people were killed and eight injured in the rampage, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker and claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attack has reignited a bitter debate about immigration in Germany, with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser this week announcing new border controls to curb irregular migrant inflows.

The government has also promised to speed up deportations and a week after the Solingen attack deported Afghans convicted of crimes back to their home country for the first time since Taliban authorities took power in 2021.