Otto Georg Schily (born 20 July 1932) is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

In 1982, he joined other members of the Green Party for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who offered to help groups allied with the European anti-nuclear movement to try to close United States military bases in Europe.

During his time in office, Schily was frequently criticized for conservative policies, such as pushing through German anti-terrorist legislation after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, which were seen as contradictory to his earlier beliefs.

[citation needed] Under the new legislation, his ministry moved against Metin Kaplan’s radical Islamic group in December 2001, banning it and 19 associated organizations and carrying out more than 200 raids in seven cities.

[5] Between 2001 and 2004, Schily led the government’s negotiations with the conservative opposition on a bill that made it easier for skilled workers to move to Germany but toughened controls on foreign militants.

[6] In 2004, he joined Italy in proposing the creation of the camps, possibly in Libya, to process potential immigrants and repatriate illegal arrivals to the EU.

[8] In 2005, Schily again came under pressure for authorizing a raid on the newsroom of Cicero magazine after it had published information from a secret Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) report.

[9] On 29 March 2007, Schily took responsibility for the handling of the case of Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2001, turned over to United States authorities and held at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba as a terror suspect.