An Egyptian-born imam lost a court fight Wednesday to stave off his expulsion from Germany after he was accused of preaching hatred towards Christians and Jews, dpa reported.
The superior administrative tribunal in Muenster, northern Germany, agreed to a federal government demand to strip his political asylum. A lower tribunal must now review whether to order his actual deportation to Egypt.
His lawyer said he would appeal, adding, "This may take years."
Germany ordered him stripped of asylum rights in 2006 but the Muslim preacher fought the order in the courts.
He has filed papers insisting that he ceased preaching in favour of jihad, or holy war, in 2000. He asserts that a German transcript of him calling for violence against Jews and Christians is a mistranslation of what he said in Arabic.
But the Muenster judges said he had lost his right to asylum through past actions that breached the United Nations prohibition on terrorism.