BILD exclusive
At a closed-door breakfast in the Bundestag.
Sinan Selen, 54, has since 2025 been president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence service.
Berlin - What only a handful of hand-picked guests were able to hear in the Bundestag, behind closed doors, deserves to be known across Germany: Islamist organisations are seeking to infiltrate German institutions in order to wield influence over politics.
That, according to BILD's information, is what Sinan Selen, 54, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told a parliamentary breakfast in the German Bundestag.
According to what BILD has learned from several participants, Selen warned against the attempted infiltration of political institutions by Islamist organisations. He focused in particular on the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and Germany.
The Muslim Brotherhood does not act violently, he said, but is no less dangerous for that, because it pursues its aims in an extremely strategic and long-term way. The intelligence chief warned that the Islamists deliberately seek to operate within German political parties in order to transform the state and society. They abide by all German laws - but only so long as those laws are compatible with sharia. The ultimate goal of these infiltration attempts, he said, is the establishment of an Islamic society.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a movement with a worldwide network of organisations. Although there are links to terrorist organisations - the Palestinian Hamas, for example - in Europe the Brotherhood seeks to present its Islam as open to the world and tolerant.
According to the 2024 report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the “Deutsche Muslimische Gemeinschaft e.V.” is “the most important and central organisation” of the Muslim Brotherhood's sympathiser milieu in Germany. The movement is said to comprise 1,450 people, to which cooperation partners must be added.
In other words: the Muslim Brotherhood builds contacts with political figures and invites them to events through a complex network of organisations, in order to establish long-term relationships. The purpose of these contacts is to influence German public officials in the movement's favour: they should, for example, oppose criticism of political Islam or turn a blind eye to Islamism.
Several participants in this closed-door meeting, held under the patronage of State Secretary for the Interior Christoph de Vries, 51, a CDU member, told BILD they had been surprised by the urgency of Selen's remarks - but also pleased by their clarity.
Unlike some of his predecessors, Sinan Selen - head of Germany's domestic intelligence service since 2025 - has so far not drawn attention with thunderous demands, and shows media restraint at a time of sharp political polarisation.
Left-wing parties said to be more open to contact with Islamists
Political Islam is a serious concern for the authorities. According to BILD's information, security circles fear that political figures may come into contact, sometimes unwittingly, with people close to or belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood milieu.
In this context, the parties of the left are said to be, more than others, especially open to overtures from Islamists - partly through a lack of familiarity with Islamist structures, partly through a misguided tolerance.
Tellingly, in a reply to a minor parliamentary question, the federal government stated in early May that it “currently has no information” indicating any “targeted infiltration” of the parties represented in the Bundestag by Islamic organisations.
At the same time, the federal government declined to answer in detail about the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood “for reasons of state interest”, so as not to compromise the work of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
BILD-Zeitung
Berlin - 3 June 2026, 14:31
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