German authorities have again classified an Islamist preacher as a security threat, years after he was jailed for supporting terrorism and later claimed to have reformed.
Sven Lau, 44, was once one of the most visible figures of Germany’s radical Salafist scene. A convert from Mönchengladbach, he first drew national attention in the 2010s by leading the so-called “Sharia Police” in the city of Wuppertal, where men in orange vests urged Muslims to avoid alcohol, gambling, and other “un-Islamic” practices.
In 2017, Lau was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for recruiting two men in Germany for the Syrian terrorist group Jamwa, which later merged with the Islamic State. He also sent money and night-vision equipment to the fighters. Released after two years, he entered a deradicalisation programme and publicly described himself as “blinded” by extremism.
By 2023, however, Lau was expelled from the programme. Officials reported that he was again moving in Islamist circles and identified him as part of a group deemed “relevant to state security” outside Düsseldorf’s Higher Regional Court.
Junge Freiheit reports that Lau, who also goes by the name “Abu Adam,” has reportedly reconnected with other well-known extremists, including preacher Pierre Vogel, who calls him a “best friend.” Lau denies ever collaborating with German intelligence while in prison, rejecting accusations from within the scene that he “betrayed” anyone.
Despite his claims to be simply a Muslim, authorities view Lau as a leading figure in Germany’s Salafist movement—a fundamentalist current of Islam that seeks to emulate the earliest followers of the Prophet Mohammed.
