Politician with Germany’s hard-right AfD leaves party after converting to Islam

The nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was in shock on Wednesday after one of its better known activists converted to Islam.

Arthur Wagner said he had resigned his party membership after deciding to become a Muslim.

The AfD became the first nationalist party to win seats in the German parliament since the sixties last year, after campaigning on an openly anti-Muslim platform. 

The party’s election slogans included “Islam does not belong in Germany” and warnings against what it calls the “Islamisation” of the country.

Mr Wagner was a leading AfD activist in the state of Brandenburg, one of the party’s heartlands in the former communist east, and was heavily involved in campaigning…

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