Germany Bans Extremist Group for Helping Hamas, Kurdish Rebe

[Rumtaya]

(AP) -- Germany banned a group allegedly raising money for Hamas and another suspected of producing propaganda for Kurdish rebel group PKK, using post-Sept. 11 laws allowing the government to outlaw extremist organizations, the Interior Ministry said Monday.

The fund-raising organization Yatim Kinderhilfe, Yatim Help for Children, was banned for allegedly raising money for Al-Aqsa. Germany banned Al-Aqsa three years ago on grounds it supported terrorism by collecting donations for the radical Islamic group Hamas to give to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

The group's leader has denied ties to Hamas, saying it only provides assistance such as food and medicine to the needy.

Interior Minister Otto Schily said the social and terrorist activities of Hamas couldn't be separated.

Yatim Kinderhilfe "is supporting a group that through the use of violence is working diametrically against the peaceful communication between the Israeli and Palestinian people," Schily said in a statement.

Schily also banned E. Xani Press and Publishing House GmbH, publisher of the Turkish-language newspaper Ozgur Politika, Free Politics, which he said was a mouthpiece for spreading "news and propaganda" for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The separatist PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has carried out numerous deadly bombings in Turkey since it took up arms in 1984.

Schily said that while press freedom was important, the newspaper was integrated into the PKK as part of its operations.

"Considering the renewed escalation of the attacks and fighting in Turkey, I am determined not to tolerate that, despite a long-term ban on the PKK, this organization still can spread its propaganda in Germany," Schily said.

Authorities searched some 60 premises in eight states in conjunction with the bans, seizing evidence and assets, Schily said. He gave no details.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Germany passed a law allowing the government to lift the country's strict legislation protecting religious organizations if they are deemed to promote extremism or ideals that could be linked to terrorism.

Using the same laws, the state of Bavaria has deported 15 Islamic radicals since November, chief state prosecutor Christoph Stroetz said Monday in remarks unrelated to Schily's announcement.

The deportations are the first results of work done by a task force set up in late 2004 to concentrate on Islamic radicals who preach hatred in mosques or who are believed to be otherwise supporting terrorist organizations, Stroetz said.