Khamenei-linked Islamic centre hit with new Charity Commission order

The Islamic Centre of England (ICE) has been issued with a new order by the Charity Commission after it continued to host online content promoting Ayatollah Khamenei and material calling for Israel’s destruction, despite being the subject of an ongoing extremism investigation.

The watchdog acted following JC reporting in February that the Maida Vale-based centre had failed to remove inflammatory content from its website and social media. It announced that the centre’s trustees must “provide rigorous oversight of future speakers and online activity by the charity”.

The ICE, which the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has labelled the “London office” of the Ayatollah’s regime and “an arm of the Iranian state”, is already under a formal investigation – the watchdog’s most serious form of enquiry – launched in 2022 after it failed to produce an effective anti-extremism “action plan”.

The new direction, issued under section 84 of the Charities Act, gives the Commission additional powers to intervene during an inquiry where there is suspected misconduct or mismanagement.

According to the regulator, the action has been taken because of the centre’s “recent failure” to fully comply with directions set by interim manager Emma Moody, who was appointed as part of the probe.

“The Commission considers these, and a range of other past breaches, mismanagement and misconduct in the administration of the charity. The trustees currently dispute some of these legal findings,” the regulator said.

The Commission will continue to monitor the centre’s invited speakers, religious services and public-facing content. Former speakers have included Palestinian-born academic, Ghada Karmi, and Syeda Umme Farwa, a charity boss who was described by an Iranian media outlet as a “jihadi lioness” and was awarded a prize by Ebrahim Raisi, the former Iranian president known as the “Butcher of Tehran”.

The Commission said in a statement on Friday that the ICE trustees “are instructed to ensure that all religious services, speakers and events further the objects of the charity and are in its best interests”.

A video hosted by ICE[Missing Credit]

During its inquiry, the Commission directed the charity to remove a rule from its constitution requiring one trustee to be the UK representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader – a provision the regulator said created a conflict of interest and demonstrated an “apparent lack of independence”.

The Centre continues to be decorated with images of the Iranian leader.

Charity Commission Chief Executive, David Holdsworth, said: “The law requires, and the public expect, charities to operate exclusively for the public benefit... when a charity fails to operate in line with its legal duties we will step in to take action. We now expect the trustees to take the required action directed by the Commission and will not hesitate to use further legal powers should that be necessary.

“The Commission’s statutory inquiry is ongoing. It is the Commission’s practice to publish a report setting out its findings, regulatory actions and conclusions once an inquiry has concluded.”

Despite repeated warnings, the ICE has continued to platform controversial figures and promote extremist narratives.

Earlier this year, the JC reported that the charity’s YouTube channel still hosted videos from 2020 in which Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei praised “multiple intifadas” to remove the “cancerous tumour” of Israel. Other clips accused the US and its allies of manufacturing Isis and enslaving the world. Some of these have since been removed.

The Commission had already issued an official warning against the ICE after a 2020 vigil held at the centre for Qasem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s overseas terror operations who was killed in a US drone strike.

At the time, the Commission said that ICE trustees had “failed to discharge their legal duties”, resulting in “misconduct and/or mismanagement” and damage to the charity’s reputation.

In November 2022, after the JC reported that children were filmed at the ICE taking part in a propaganda video for the Iranian regime, the regulator launched its current fullscale inquiry.

The ICE has been approached for comment.