Germany cracks down on Muslim groups viewed as threats

Germany has banned a Muslim group it accuses of violating human rights and the country's democratic values, and has carried out raids against two other Muslim groups across the country.

The interior ministry said the organisation that it banned, Muslim Interaktiv, represented a threat to the country's constitutional order by promoting anti-Semitism and discrimination against women and sexual minorities.

The group is known for a savvy online presence used to appeal especially to young Muslims who may feel alienated or discriminated against in Germany's Christian majority society.

The German government argued the group was a particular threat because it promoted Islam as the sole model for the social order and maintained that Islamic law should take precedence over German law in regulatin