COLOGNE, 29 October 2003 — German officials yesterday backed down on a threat to close a Saudi-funded school but warned it to comply with a series of measures restricting its activities.
Juergen Rotors, who heads the city government of Cologne, western Germany, said it had reached an agreement with the Saudis to give King Fahd Academy in nearby Bonn “a fresh start.”
The school will have to confine itself to “its scholastic mission,” he told a press conference, and would continue to be monitored.
Rotors had previously indicated that his administration wanted to close the academy because of its alleged fundamentalist activities.
The school, founded in 1994, has some 460 pupils up to the age of 18, around 200 of whom have German nationality. Rotors said he had been “determined” to close the academy until a solution was found “at the last minute” following talks with the Saudi Embassy and the German Foreign Ministry.
He said the measures included ensuring German language tuition, restriction of Islamic and any other activities on or off the campus that might encourage extremists, and allowing access to the mosque to students and staff only.
