Under surveillance, Islamist centre dissolves 02/10/2007 00:00

2 October 2007

Ulm, Germany (dpa) - An Islamist club in Germany which has been under long-term surveillance by German anti-terrorism agencies said Tuesday it had voted to dissolve.

The dissolution of the Islamic Information Centre in Ulm, southern Germany, comes ahead of moves by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg to prohibit the club and confiscate its property.

Mehmet Durbin, deputy chairman of the club, told Ulm broadcaster Radio 7 that a general meeting voted to wind up the Centre. He added there were no plans to create a replacement organization. The club's registration as a legal society would be cancelled.

Anti-terrorism agencies have suspected the club of promoting Islamist radicalism and of links with violence.

Durbin said the club could hardly continue as its good name had been "sullied" by the media and security services in Germany.

Prosecutors in the state have been conducting an inquiry against the group on suspicion that it is a criminal association. Police searched the clubrooms last month and took away books, documents and computers.

Officials said Tuesday the inquiry would continue as long as the club was legally in existence.

The club hit the headlines in September when it was learned that one of its members was the leader of a trio detained for plotting to make a bomb aimed at causing mass carnage among US citizens living in Germany.

DPA

Subject: German news