The UK Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry following the release of a video showing “death to Israel” chants at the Kanoon Towhid Islamic Centre in west London. The charity regulator expressed concerns over the misuse of the charity’s premises and is examining the elderly’s management and the administration of the charity’s trustees. The Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust, which owns the centre, reported that its trustees were not present at the time. Antisemitic chants were heard at an event held in January 2020 commemorating Iran’s top military commander Qasem Soleimani who was killed in a US air strike earlier that year.
The commission described the occasion and Soleimani’s remembrance ceremony as organised by a third party and not the charity itself. However, the event has sparked concerns about Al-Tawheed trustees’ oversight and control of the centre’s premises during external events. In a statement, the Charity Commission noted that “the charity has significant concerns about these matters and will be examining what controls the charity has in place for events and external speakers.”
The BBC investigation that began in January 2021 also exposed online talks by active and retired members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in September 2020 and January 2021. The regulator is looking at two videos that showed an apocalyptic war on Jews and a false denial of the Holocaust, which the ISA promoted in advance, and its affiliates serve as meeting places at the Kanoon Towhid centre. ISA, which is not affiliated with the UK’s main Muslim student groups, denied organising or being present at the Soleimani event.
The Charity Commission has taken protective steps to prohibit the trustees from allowing the charity’s premises to be used by the third party that organised the 2020 event. The inquiry will review the charity’s administration and management by its trustees, examining relationships with partners and the charity’s premises control by its trustees over third-party usage. The commission is using its powers to compel the trustees to provide specified documents and answer specific questions. The Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust did not respond to repeated requests for information
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