Judge Rules ‘Sharia Police’ Patrols Not Illegal

The “Sharia patrols” looked as if they might be prosecuted by the German court system after lower courts initially refused to charge the Islamic enforcers:

A GROUP of hardline Islamists in Germany face up to two years in prison after they set up a Sharia police patrol group in Wuppertal.

The seven men, aged between 25 and 30, face charges that prevent groups from wearing political uniforms.

The group are said to have patrolled the streets of the city in North Rhine-Westphalia wearing bright orange jackets bearing the slogan ‘Sharia police’ on the back.

The Islamists are also said to have carried notices in English that read: “Sharia Controlled Zone”.

They are alleged to have ordered people not to drink, gamble or visit nightclubs, which caused an outcry from residents.

A court in the city initially ruled last December the group would not face charges but the decision was overturned by a higher court in Dusseldorf in May this year.

However, Germany continued its death spiral as the court ruled that the uniforms that the ‘Sharia Police’ were using didn’t violate the law:

A German court has 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 the 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 “Sharia Police”.

Judges said there could only be a violation of the law – originally aimed against street movements such as the early Nazi party – if the uniforms were “suggestively militant or intimidating”, a court spokesman said.

In this case, they found that the vests were not threatening and noted that one witness said he thought the men were part of a bachelor party.

The same court had already thrown out the case last year, but was overruled on appeal by a higher court which agreed with prosecutors that the ban on uniforms could be applied in this case.

Source: Express, The Guardian