German government agrees to tougher deportation rules for praising terrorism

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government agreed on Wednesday to a bill aimed at making it easier to deport people who praise or promote “terrorist crimes,” the interior ministry said.

Under the bill, tolerating or glorifying a single terrorist offense – even on social media – is enough to constitute a “serious concern for deportation,” the ministry said.

This would make it easier for foreigners who tolerate terrorist crimes to lose their right to remain in Germany and be deported. A criminal conviction would not be required.

“We are taking decisive action against Islamist and anti-Semitic hate crimes online,” said Home Affairs Minister Nancy Faeser.

The ministry said the government intends to pass the bill through the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, as soon as possible.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced earlier this month that he would tighten deportation rules after an Afghan man stabbed and killed a German policeman in Mannheim.

Scholz said at the time that the government was working to make it possible to deport criminals and dangerous migrants back to countries like Afghanistan.

This decision is controversial because Germany does not repatriate people to countries where they are at risk of death.

The decision comes amid growing support for the anti-immigration, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and growing concerns about migration and public security.

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, Alexander Ratz, text by Miranda Murray, editing by Madeline Chambers)