The number of trials involving terror-linked radical Islamic extremists is on the rise in Germany as the German federal prosecutor announced that his office opened 1,031 investigations into Islamic extremists in 2017.
The German federal prosecutor, based in the city of Karlsruhe, said of the over 1,000 preliminary investigations only two have been brought to trial so far. The prosecutor also noted that the suspects in the investigations were overwhelmingly men with only 24 of the suspects being female, Die Welt reports.
Last year, Attorney General Peter Frank announced that he would be looking more deeply into investigating Islamic extremists and their ties to terror. He specifically mentioned looking into extremist women who have become a larger part of the radical Islamic scene in recent months as many men have been put in prison.
The Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in North Rhine-Westphalia warned late last year that women were playing a far more active role in radicalisation and were training a new generation of potential jihadis.
So far, only two women who returned from fighting for jihadist groups in the Middle East have been taken to trial. One, for the abduction of a child and the other for supporting terrorist groups.
According to the BfV, the number of violent Islamic extremists dramatically increased every year since the height of the migrant crisis. In October, the domestic spy agency said they had identified over 1,800 violent radicals, up 64 per cent from the year before.
President of the domestic spy agency Hans-Georg Maassen also warned that radical Islamic ideas were gaining traction with young people in schools across the country.
A survey released earlier this month claimed that 27 per cent of Muslim students in the region of Lower Saxony agreed with the statement, “The Islamic laws of Sharia, according to which, for example, adultery or homosexuality are severely punished, are much better than the German laws.”
A smaller number agreed with the creation of an Islamic State in the Middle East, while others outright supported terrorism.
The total number of Islamic extremists, or Salafists, rose as well and is currently estimated to be around 10,000 or more.