Free Republic

Germany has been accused of violating basic Western values yet again, as a news editor in Germany faces a hefty fine and a seven month prison sentence for posting a meme mocking the government’s “hatred” of free speech. The Bamberg district court in Bavaria sentenced Deutschland-Kurier editor David Bendels this week to seven months in prison on probation and a fine of nearly sixty per cent of his annual income, or 210 ‘daily rates’, for posting an image on social media of Interior Minister Nancy Faeser holding an altered sign. The common meme tactic of changing the words on signs...

There’s a sinister method to this madness The man who plowed his car at top speed into the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany on Friday, killing and injuring numerous people, was a curious case. Taleb al-Abdulmohsen had lived in Germany for years, all the while presenting himself as an ex-Muslim and cultivating connections with high-profile critics of Islam. This led numerous media outlets to present him as an “anti-Islam” terrorist, and German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who for years has ignored and denied any connection of Islam with terrorism and smeared critics of Islam and mass Muslim migration in Germany...

The German government has announced a package of legal measures aimed at fighting right-wing extremism. It comes after weeks of demonstrations against the far-right swept through German towns and cities. Throughout January, hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of German life took to the streets to protest against far-right extremism. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the protests had been "an encouragement and a mandate" to act politically... Ms. Faeser said the 13-point plan would right-wing extremism, which she described as the biggest threat facing German society. Proposals include new laws that make it easier to freeze bank accounts...

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser dismissed Arne Schoenbohm as head of the BSI agency, following reports which "damaged the necessary confidence of the public in the neutrality and impartiality" of his management, the ministry said on Tuesday.... The Cyber Security Council Germany, which Mr Schoenbohm chaired until he became the head of the BSI in 2016, was prone to influence from Russian companies and even the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies, the report said. German media have reported that one of its members was a German company that is a subsidiary of a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a former KGB agent, which...

Germany’s top security officials announced a 10-point plan Tuesday to combat far-right extremism in the country that includes disarming about 1,500 suspected extremists and tightening background checks for those wanting to acquire guns. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the far right poses the biggest extremist threat to democracy in Germany and said authorities would seek to tackle the issue through prevention and tough measures. “We want to destroy far-right extremist networks,” Faeser told reporters in Berlin, saying this included targeting financial flows that benefit such groups, including merchandising businesses, music festivals and martial arts events. Authorities will work to remove...