‘A Great Martyr’? UK Islamic Center Honors Iranian Arch-Terrorist

British Authorities issue warning to Muslim charity that held vigil for assassinated Iranian general.

By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algeminer

Qassem Soleimani was the head of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which runs the Islamic Republic’s global terror network.

He was killed in January in a U.S. drone strike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that, following Soleimani’s death, the Islamic Centre of England (ICE) held a vigil in his memory, during which one of the speakers called him “a great martyr.”

The group’s director Seyed Hashem Moosavi then praised Soleimani on ICE’s website.

In a press release issued on June 19, the UK government’s Charity Commission announced it had sent an official warning to ICE as it “found the trustees failed to discharge their legal duties towards the charity” because of the vigil.

“The event risked associating the charity with a speaker who may have committed an offense under the Terrorism Acts, as the speaker was filmed during the event appearing to praise and call for support for Soleimani,” the Commission said. “The trustees failed to intervene or provide a counter narrative.”

The trustees, they said, had not followed guidelines regarding the selection and hosting of speakers and “put the charity’s reputation at risk.”

The warning requires ICE to “review content on the charity’s website and ensure appropriate consideration is given and risk assessments conducted for any future events held at the charity’s premises.”

Assistant Director of Investigations and Inquiries at the Charity Commission Tim Hopkins said, “Any charity being associated with terrorism is completely unacceptable and we are concerned by the corrosive effect this might have on public confidence in this and other charities.”