Harun Nasrullah

More than 800 mosques have been threatened or attacked in Germany in the last eight years, including 20 involving arson attacks intended to kill or injure, most of which were inadequately investigated, according to Brandeilig, an initiative by FAIR International.

The group, which has set up Germany’s first reporting centre for attacks on mosques, recorded 840 incidents of attacks, vandalism, and threats from 2014 to 2022.

Analysis of 120 attacks conducted in 2018 revealed that the perpetrators remained anonymous, with only nine cases of perpetrators being identified, further fuelling the attacks against mosques by neo-Nazis and left-wing extremists targeting the country’s nearly 5.3 million Muslims (the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe).

“In general, police officers arrive on the scene very quickly and immediately start the investigation. Nevertheless, almost none of the incidents could be solved until today,” said Brandeilig’s experts.

Sociologist and political scientist Yusuf Sari said, “One of the most important findings is that the mosque communities did not inform about this even though they had been attacked many times before.”

“Additionally, half of the attacks are from the far right, and in most cases, the perpetrators have not been caught. This means that the perpetrators still pose a threat to Muslims,” he said.

Sari noted that communities are, often, abandoned by authorities following an attack and receive no help. He made suggestions for solutions to the problems mentioned in the report and explained his expectations from the German authorities:

“As a first step, the current danger to Muslims should be accepted. In general, we expect the authorities to do more in the fight against anti-Muslim racism.

Solidarity with Muslim communities should increase, and mosque communities should be supported, including with financial support, after an attack. But one of the most important points is the elucidation of cases and the capture of the perpetrators because otherwise, this would be an incentive for the perpetrators,” he said.

“We, of course, recorded the updated numbers and attacks,” Sari said, adding that they observed “an increase in the number of attacks against mosques and Muslims.

The presence of a very small number of suspects is alarming,” he pointed out, mentioning that it was surprising that German authorities have captured a very small number of perpetrators to date. Something needs to change, especially at this point, if we want to tackle the far-right and prevent people from being seriously harmed in the future,” he said.