Former IS leader in Germany set for deportation hearing next month

The former leader in Germany of the Islamic State terrorist group, Abu Walaa, will have a first hearing next month in his legal battle to avoid deportation.

According to dpa sources, the hearing is scheduled for June 11.

Abu Walaa was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison and must remain behind bars until 2027. After that, he is due to be deported from Germany.

After an urgent appeal against his deportation a year ago largely went against him, the full case will now be heard in court.

Judges ruled during the urgent proceedings that the danger posed by Abu Walaa to public safety was so serious that the interests of his seven children did not prevent him from being deported.

According to the court, the upcoming proceedings relate to the revocation of his residence permit and conditions of his eventual release, such as staying exclusively in a certain city and reporting to the police every day.

After a trial that lasted more than three years, a court in Celle in 2021 found the Islamic preacher guilty of support and membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

The presiding judge said that he had been appointed by Islamic State as its top representative in Germany.

In that capacity, he radicalized young people in north-western Germany and recruited them for Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate abroad, the judge said.