Al-Aqsa Charity Director Mahmoud Amr watches as policeman confiscate documents from its headquarters

By Khaled Schmitt, IOL Germany Correspondent

BONN, July 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - German Interior Otto Schily criticized Thursday, July 24, a ruling by Leipzig federal court lifting the ban imposed on Al-Aqsa Charity and allowing it to resuming fund-raising among the Muslim community in Germany.

In press statements, Schily argued the court ruling, issued Wednesday, July 23, was incomprehensible, saying it comes at a time of increasing danger posed by international terrorism.

For his part, the Bavaria state Interior Minister Guenter Beckstein claimed the court verdict would render terror combat impossible.

In its ruling which temporarily invalidated the ban imposed by the interior ministry on Al-Aqsa Charity, Leipzig federal court stressed there were no evidence that its activities were posing a threat to security in the country.

The court, however, demanded the society to put forward a more comprehensive and periodical account of its assets and where they are being spent until the supreme administrative court reaches a final verdict regarding the legality of the ban ordered by the interior ministry.

The judges could not predict whether Al-Aqsa Charity would win or loose such a case.

They asserted that they were so far unable to assess the activities of the society and verify Schily's charges it was supporting the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

In July 2002, Schily banned all activities by the Aachen-based Al-Aqsa Charity and froze 300,000 euros of its assets in German banks under the pretext of raising funds for the families of Hamas activists who carry out attacks against Israel.

The charity immediately hit back and repudiated all charges, clarifying that its operations in the occupied territories are confined to humanitarian assistance as well as building education facilities and hospitals to serve Palestinian widows and orphans irrespective of their religion.

In August 2002, Al-Aqsa Charity lawyer Cristian Paschen filed a lawsuit before Leipzig federal court contesting the ban.

Acting on behalf of its alley, Israel, Washington has been rallying friends and pressing others to crack down on Islamic charities to dry up financial assistance to Palestinian resistance groups, particularly Hamas and Islamic Jihad.