Calls to close so-called “outreach centre” of Iranian Government and terrorist IRGC in north London
There have been calls to close what has been described as an “outreach centre” for the Iranian regime and the Iranian terror group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the JC.
The Islamic Centre of England, based in Maida Vale in north London, was described as such by Alicia Kearns MP as calls grow for the British Government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Campaign Against Antisemitism has been among those calling for the ban, and disseminated a dossier to all MPs demonstrating the IRGC’s record of antisemitism.
The Islamic Centre of England, a registered charity, held a vigil for the IRGC terrorist mastermind, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020, at its West London premises, prompting an investigation by the Charity Commission, which found that the event risked associating the charity with a speaker who may have committed an offence under the Terrorism Acts, as the speaker was filmed during the event appearing to praise and call for support for Mr Soleimani. The trustees failed to intervene or provide a sufficient explanation. The following day, the trustees organised a further event and published statements on its website offering condolence and praise for Soleimani, prompting the Charity Commission to issue an Official Warning.
The Islamic Centre is believed to serve as an office for Iran’s Supreme Leader, and its Director, Seyed Hashem Moosavi, is understood to have been appointed by the regime as a mid-ranking cleric. Mr Moosavi has now stepped down from board of the limited company that runs ICE and as a trustee of its charity. His replacement, Jafar Ali Najm, is the General Secretary and a trustee of Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Shia Europe, a grouping of Islamic scholars that also reportedly praised Soleimani as a martyr.
The institution also aired an Iranian propaganda film, posted on IRGC websites, featuring children singing a song that referenced an apocalyptic myth about murdering Jews, according to the JC. The Islamic Centre denied that its “local version of the song” carried the same meaning. It also has a history of publishing inflammatory rhetoric about Zionists and extolled Iranian support for the antisemitic terror groups Hamas and Hizballah.
The Islamic Centre is located just minutes from several synagogues in the area.
In response to the calls for its closure, a spokesman for the Islamic Centre of England reportedly told the JC: “I am not here to comment on any statement passed by said personalities. As we are the Charity regulated by the British law. We are nothing to do with what these speakers have said in their past.”
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