It has been revealed that Germany’s Verfassungsschutz (Constitution Protection Organization) has been taking a record of all Muslims attending Friday congregational prayers in the Lower Saxony province, Green Party lawmaker Belit Onay said.
The German interior intelligence gathering agency Verfassungsschutz, which is currently undergoing reform since the SPD/Green coalition came to power after the local elections, kept records of 100 Muslims in the province simply because they attended Friday prayers regularly.
The organization had been under fire for its unjustified tracking of innocent individuals before the elections. It is believed up to 40% of individuals on their watch list were not involved in anything illegal.
Lawmaker Belit Onay slammed the Verfassungsschutz, saying that the tracking of individuals for praying was a violation of the law, which recognizes freedom of religion for all.
Onay also told Dogan News Agency that when the Christian Democrats Union’s Uwe Schunemann was interior minister, mosques would often be raided by police during Friday prayers to carry out identification checks.
The Verfassungsschutz had also comprised a list of wanted ‘Islamists’, making it clear that they were targeting Muslims, the lawmaker added.
Source: World Bulletin
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