Free Republic

The head of Germany’s second largest police union has harshly attacked the country’s justice system, after a court in Wuppertal ruled that so-called “sharia police” are legal. Rainer Wendt, head of the German Police Union (DpolG), told the Passauer Neue Presse (PNP) on Wednesday that the German judiciary are far too weak in dealing with known criminals. “These days the full force of the law often means we collect personal details from offenders and the judges let them go free,” said Wendt. …

A German court on Monday ruled that a group of Islamists did not break the law in forming “sharia police” street patrols and telling people to stop drinking, gambling and listening to music. The ultra-conservative Muslim group around German Salafist convert Sven Lau sparked public outrage with their vigilante patrols in the western city of Wuppertal in 2014, but prosecutors have struggled to build a case against them. The city’s district court ruled that the seven accused members of the group did not breach a ban on political uniforms when they approached people while wearing orange vests bearing the words...

One of Germany’s best-known Islamist preachers went on trial in the western city of Düsseldorf on Tuesday on charges of backing “a terrorist group” fighting in Syria. Sven Lau, 35, stands accused of supporting and recruiting fighters for the Syria-based Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA), or Army of Emigrants and Supporters, which Germany lists as a terrorist organization. A convert to the ultra-conservative Salafist branch of Islam, Lau gained notoriety in 2014 when he organized a vigilante “Sharia Police” group that patrolled German streets seeking to enforce Islamic law. …

Islamic State and “Sharia Police” stickers have been seen on vehicles in Hamburg, and some fear that extremists may try and harass residents. However, police and security services have denied these reports. At least one witness has came forward claiming that she has seen Islamic State logos and sharia police slogans on a car in Hamburg. According to the woman, she saw a car at a traffic light populated by three women wearing the Islamic full-face veil, the hood of the car was described as having a large logo on it with a blue border which read: “Sharia Police”. Now...

Police in Moenchengladbach have arrested infamous Salafist Sven Lau on suspicion of supporting a terrorist group. [...] In a statement, the prosecutors said that Lau, 35, had been arrested on suspicion of acting on behalf of "Jaish al-mujahirin wa-l-ansar" (army of emigrants and helpers, or Jamwa). That could make him culpable of supporting a foreign terrorist organization, a serious crime that carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in jail. ...

State prosecutors in the Ruhr city of Wuppertal said on Tuesday that they have brought charges against notorious Islamic fundamentalist Sven Lau, who was behind a short-lived “Sharia police” vigilante force in the city. Lau, 34, is accused—with nine others—of infractions against the law on freedom of assembly over the group of high-vis-vest-wearing Islamists who declared that they would patrol the streets to police morals last September. […] “Sharia law is not tolerated on German soil,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said at the time. The western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is widely regarded as a hotspot for fundamentalist...