Free Republic

AUGSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Almost 300 German police raided 32 premises in a renewed crackdown on suspected members of a banned Islamist group, authorities said on Friday. Police in the southern city of Augsburg said officers had searched the homes and prayer areas of suspected members of the Cologne-based group known as the Kalifatstaat (Caliphate State) in several German states. "We found indications that the group continues to exist," said Klaus Bayerl, a spokesman for Augsburg police. Police said they had not made any arrests, but that 24 persons, predominantly of Turkish origin, were under investigation on suspicion of having...

A court in the German city of Duesseldorf has turned down a Turkish request to extradite a militant Islamic cleric to face treason charges. The court ruled that Metin Kaplan, known as the "Caliph of Cologne" after a radical group he set up, could face human rights abuses if he returned to Turkey. German Interior Minister Otto Schily "regretted" the decision which he said had been made despite Turkish assurances that legal principles would be respected. Kaplan in March completed a four-year jail term for calling for the murder of a rival religious leader, but has been in custody ever...