German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has now also received the green light from the cabinet to expand the conditions for rapid deportation. This time with a new bill targeting people who support terrorism through their online presence or incite hatred and violence through their social media posts. The new public sphere has also shifted to social media, which has come under the microscope of German security authorities.
And it’s not just suspicious posts that support terrorist-leaning positions or content that could arouse criminal suspicions. In the future, even a “like” or “heart” under a controversial post or video on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, which is very popular not only among young people but also with any kind of propaganda network, could perhaps show the way outside Germany.
The German government is taking into account, on the one hand, the war in the Middle East and the support for Hamas on German soil, and on the other hand, deadly incidents such as the recent knife attack by a 25-year-old Afghan man, which killed a police officer in Mannheim. For Nancy Visser, the new bill sends a message in all directions “against hate speech and anti-Semitism on the Internet”.
Rushing into the Bundestag
The German government is seeking to take rapid parliamentary action to revoke the residence permits of people who show similar behavior. The bill, which is set to be fast-tracked, is expected to be approved as an amendment to the existing legislative framework governing residence permits and deportations.
The representative of the Ministry of the Interior was quick to clarify that in any case, against the decision imposing deportation, it is possible to appeal to the German administrative courts. As the public television channel ZDF points out, in order to decide to deport someone, it must be proven that the protection of the public interest that requires deportation outweighs the individual interest of the person concerned in remaining in Germany.
Vice Chancellor Robert Hambeck of the Greens also supports the controversial bill. “It is a great achievement that persecuted people can find protection in Germany, that is the strength of our country. But anyone who mocks Germany’s liberal democratic system by shouting in favor of terrorism and celebrating murders has no right to stay in the country. Islam belongs to Germany, but Islamism does not,” the vice chancellor and minister of economy and energy stressed. On the other hand, as reported by the Tagesspiegel, left-wing MP Clara Bünger spoke of a worrying development whereby people could be prosecuted or even imprisoned for “admiration.”
What the police and lawyers say
The German Police Association welcomes the German government’s decision, while the German Lawyers Association publicly criticizes the tightening of the deportation law. The head of the German Bar Association, Thomas Oberhauser, described the planned rulings as a sign of “populism” that does not deal fairly with the “complexity” of human life and expression.
As he notes, the fact that someone simply clicks, at the speed dictated by the Internet, “like,” does not necessarily mean that he or she fully agrees with each post and refers to basic constitutional principles of a democratic society, such as the principle of proportionality.
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