Charity Commission probes London mosque over preacher’s alleged call for Jews’ deaths

A London mosque is facing scrutiny from the Charity Commission after hosting an Egyptian preacher accused of repeatedly calling for the killing of Jews.

The regulator has opened a compliance case into Hounslow Jamia Masjid after concerns were raised by the National Secular Society (NSS), which also reported online sermons by the mosque’s head imam discussing the death penalty for gay people under Islamic law.

The mosque hosted preacher Yosry Gabr on Sunday and Monday despite previous controversy surrounding his public statements.

According to The Telegraph, Gabr said in a YouTube video published in January: “Wars will stop after killing the Jews – there will be no wars after killing the Jews.”

In another video published in December, he said: “The final war will begin in which we will kill every Jew.

“They know this, the Jews know they will be killed.”

The visit prompted political criticism before it took place. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called for Gabr to be “urgently banned from entering the UK,” while Labour MP Damien Egan urged Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to do “everything in her power to stop this extremist coming to spread hate and division in Britain.”

The NSS said Hounslow Jamia Masjid is a registered charity whose charitable purpose is advancing the Islamic faith. It also runs Suffah Primary School and an after-school academy.

Earlier this year, Suffah Primary School failed to meet Ofsted standards after inspectors identified shortcomings in its safeguarding procedures. The watchdog said the school’s systems for recording and following up safeguarding concerns “lack organisation and detail” and contained “minimal evidence that concerns are dealt with appropriately”.

The mosque was also attended by Asif Hanif, one of the two British suicide bombers behind the 2003 attack on Mike’s Place, a bar in Tel Aviv, in which three civilians were killed.

The charity is already the subject of a separate statutory inquiry opened by the Charity Commission in 2025 into allegations concerning its financial management. It has also received more than £546,000 in government grants since 2021 and is recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid.

Alongside its latest referral, the NSS highlighted a 2023 lecture streamed on the mosque’s YouTube channel in which head imam Ammar Siddiqui discussed a book entitled Advice for the LGBTQ.

Addressing what he described as the “LGBTQ” “agenda”, Siddiqui said it was “to destroy the human race”.

Discussing punishments under Islamic law, he said: “When the Prophet says kill the doer and the receiver (of gay sex), meaning kill the ones that are doing it, it refers to those people that are in charge, that they put the punishment down.”

He added that the punishment was intended “as a deterrence”, so that “people… feel there’s a fear, they’re scared”.

Megan Manson, the NSS’s head of campaigns, said: “It’s outrageous that a registered charity, which has received hundreds of thousands in public money, has hosted a preacher who calls for the death of Jews and suggests to children it is acceptable for Islamic states to execute gay people.

“We urge the Charity Commission to evaluate this organisation’s suitability as both a registered charity and the proprietor of a school.

“This is the latest in a long line of religious charities found promoting antisemitism and homophobia. Our charity system needs urgent reform to ensure no organisation can exploit this sector to promote hate and division.”

The Charity Commission has not announced the outcome of its compliance case.