Turkish imam decides to drop protest against his deportation

Expatica:

A former imam who called terrorists "martyrs" and was told to go home to Turkey has dropped a legal challenge against deportation from Germany, state of Berlin officials said Friday.

The man, who has lived in Germany since 1971 and helped found the Mevlana Mosque in the German capital, caused outrage when concealed cameras inside his mosque recorded him attacking Germans in 2004 as "stinking infidels" who were bound for hell.

Later he addressed a rally organized by the militant Turkish group Milli Gorus and praised suicide attackers in Jerusalem and Iraq as "martyrs."

He challenged a 2005 deportation order before the German courts.

But the state's interior ministry said Friday he had withdrawn his demand that the city aliens' office review the decision, meaning that the expulsion was legally final. He was expected to leave voluntarily.

The imam earlier won a court case against a TV channel that called him a "hate preacher." German judges barred the media from using that term for him.

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