Labour MPs criticise charity watchdog’s ‘inadequate’ response to Tehran’s ‘influence network’
Daily Telegraph 28/02/26
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to clamp down on charities accused of operating as part of an Iranian influence “network” in Britain.
A group of Labour MPs have warned of a web of organisations that “appear to be actively promoting the Iranian regime’s ideology and interests”.
In a letter to Dan Jarvis, the security minister, the MPs argued that proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was an “important step” in limiting the regime’s ability to repress and kill protesters in Iran.
They went on to list several charities, which they alleged are part of the Iranian regime’s “influence on our shores”, arguing that the response of the sector watchdog, the Charity Commission, had been “inadequate”.
Labour MPs have urged the Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Credit: Morteza Nikoubazl/Getty
One charity cited is the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which describes itself as a campaign, research and advocacy non-profit which “struggles for justice for all peoples”.
Set up in 1997, it has special consultative status with the economic and social council of the United Nations. It has been under a statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission since last October.
It was criticised in the 2023 independent review of the Prevent counter-terror strategy by Sir William Shawcross, who described it as an “Islamist group ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime, that has a history of extremist links and terrorist sympathies”.
The official report notes: “Several senior figures within IHRC have espoused support for violent jihad, expressed sympathy for convicted terrorists, and advocated for the extraction and eradication of ‘Zionists’.
The letter also mentioned the Islamic Centre of England, which has been under investigation by the Charity Commission since 2022. Based in the affluent north-west London suburb of Maida Vale, itd is accused of being an outpost of the Iranian regime.
It first sparked concern in January 2020, when it held a candlelit vigil for Gen Qassim Soleimani of the IRGC, who was killed in an American drone strike. During the vigil, he was referred to as a “dedicated soldier of Islam” and a “great martyr”.
Expressing support for the dead general exposed the centre to the risk of being charged with committing a terrorist offence. The vigil – along with another event at the centre that “eulogised” Soleimani – led to an official warning by the charity watchdog.
In October 2022, Seyed Hashem Moosavi, the centre’s director, gave a speech in which he described Iranian protesters against the regime as “enemies” and “soldiers of Satan”. He also said women who refused to wear hijabs were guilty of spreading “poison”.
The following month, the Charity Commission launched a full-scale statutory inquiry that could ultimately lead to the centre being stripped of its charitable status. The investigation is ongoing.
Seyed Hashem Moosavi
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