Salafists in Germany backed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar: German media

A number of groups from the Persian Gulf states are supporting the radical Salafist movement in Germany with the suspected approval of their governments, Suddeutsche Zeitung paper and NDR and WDR broadcasters said, citing a security report.

The groups, based in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are engaged in missionary activities on German territory.
Their apparent purpose is that of spreading fundamentalist Salafi concepts, a report jointly prepared by the German intelligence service (BND) and the domestic security and counter-terrorist service (BfV) said, Russia Today cited Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) as reporting.

The NGOs mentioned in the report seen by the German media on Monday mostly support and provide financial assistance to various Salafist groups in Germany, the paper said.

The organizations in question are the Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS), Qatari Shaykh Eid Charity Foundation and the Muslim World League from Saudi Arabia that are involved in financing the establishment of the Salafist centers and organization of education seminars.
The report says that all of these organizations follow “a long-term strategy of [spreading] their influence” in Germany.

For instance, the RIHS financed the construction of a Salafist center in the town of Fellbach-Oeffingen in southwest Germany through a real estate company. The construction of the building, which would have occupied a space of 3,300 square meters, was stopped after police intervention. According to the BfV, the center was part of a future “strategic plan of missionary activities in southern Germany.”
German media add that the RIHS was earlier banned in the US on a similar suspicion of supporting terrorist groups.