German authorities on Monday shut down the Al-Aqsa organisation in the northwestern city of Aachen they said posed as a charity to collect money for the radical Islamic movement Hamas, the interior ministry said.
Investigators seized 300,000 euros ($296,000) from Al-Aqsa's accounts in Aachen and Cologne, Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters Monday. Numerous documents were also seized in searches of the organization's premises and members' apartments, he said.
At the association's offices, located in a quiet neighborhood, authorities were still removing crates of documents after Schily's announcement.
Among it's activities, Al-Aqsa calls for donations to support "martyr families," which authorities interpreted as support for the families of suicide bombers, Schily said.
Funds collected by Al-Aqsa were transferred to "social and humanitarian organizations in the partially autonomous Palestinian territories which are connected with the organizational structure of Hamas or its associates," Schily said.
Mahmoud Amr, 45, chairman of Al-Aqsa, founded in 1991, denied the organization was funneling money to Hamas.
"That accusation is false," Amr said in a telephone interview. "We have supported neither Hamas nor any other organization. We help needy people."
An investigation into the affair is ongoing, the ministry said. No one has been arrested.
"We are all horrified about the series of attacks and suicide bombings which bring immeasurable suffering to the victims, their friends and relatives and the entire Israeli population," Schily said.
"Organisations that support such horrific attacks must be shut down. We tolerate neither terrorist activities in Germany nor organisations that support attacks in foreign countries."
Under a new law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the government can lift the country's strict legislation protecting religious organizations if they are deemed to promote extremism or ideals that could be linked to terrorism.
The organisation has been under observation by Germany's domestic security agency for some time. The agency's latest report in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia describes the group as being suspected of supporting Hamas terrorists "under the camouflage of humanitarian aid."
In a statement on the group's website from last October, Al-Aqsa denied supporting radical groups in the Middle East and stressed its mission was to help needy Palestinians.
"Neither the chairman ... nor the trustees of the relief society are members of ... Hamas," the statement said. "Al-Aqsa is an independent society and was and is at no time a fund-raising club of... Hamas."
Amr said Al-Aqsa collected more than 1 million euros ($985,000) in the last year, primarily through mosques and Islamic organisations.
"With this money we help needy people, the elderly and the sick," he said. He said the organization assists 2,000 orphans together with partner organizations, while helpers distribute medicine, food and clothing to Palestinians.
Amr said his organization would
seek to have the ban overturned in court. His attorney, Bernd Roloff, did
not immediately return calls to his Hamburg office.