2023-11-18 20:53:00
The German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for clarification. “The appearance of the Taliban representative in Cologne is completely unacceptable and should be strongly condemned,” the politician told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Saturday. “Nobody is allowed to offer radical Islamists a platform in Germany.”
Abdul Bari Omar performed in a mosque in Cologne-Chorweiler on Thursday. The umbrella organization DITIB initially gave the name of the organizing association as “Afghan Cultural Association Cologne Meschenich”. The club then declared that it was not involved in the event and that the club’s name had been used improperly. DITIB then corrected its information on Saturday evening. In fact, the hall was made available to people who were known to DITIB as the board of directors of the “Kulturverein der Kunar Jugend eV” and were acting on its behalf.
Minister was photographed with Taliban
Omar was previously present in The Hague at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference held November 6-8. Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced on Saturday via the X platform (Twitter) that it is now being investigated how this was possible. The Dutch Health Minister also had his photo taken with the Taliban representative at the conference.
The photo had already been distributed on Kuipers regretted the photo together. He didn’t know who it was. “Of course I don’t want to be associated in any way with this terrible regime: I stand for human rights and especially women’s rights.”
Faeser emphasized: The Taliban are responsible for massive human rights violations. “In Germany we protect many refugees from Afghanistan from the oppressive rule of the Taliban. That’s why Taliban officials have absolutely no place in Germany.” The responsible authorities investigated the case intensively. The umbrella organization DITIB, to which the Cologne mosque belongs, is expected to provide “a complete and very quick explanation of how the appearance in Cologne came regarding.”
Harsh criticism from the Foreign Office
The German Foreign Office (AA) strongly condemned Omar’s appearance on Friday. The trip was not announced to the AA and the man was not issued a visa before entering Germany. When asked on Saturday, the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Ministry said the man was the head of the food and medicine authorities in Afghanistan.
The North Rhine-Westphalia State Chancellery also condemned the Taliban official’s appearance. “The fact that members of a radical organization like the Taliban spread their ideologies unfiltered on German soil is an unspeakable event,” a spokesman told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. However, the Düsseldorf Interior Ministry referred on Saturday to an assessment by the Federal Prosecutor General: According to this, the Taliban, with their seizure of power in Afghanistan and the formation of a government in September 2021, are no longer a criminal or terrorist organization “from this point on.”
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