London charity that got ‘religious tolerance’ grant founded by ‘revenge’ Ayatollah

A centre in north London given a £15,000 grant to promote “religious tolerance” was founded by a senior Iranian regime cleric who said in the wake of Ayatollah Khamenei’s death that “seeking revenge is the religious duty of all Muslims worldwide”.

The International Islamic Link charity, whose UK branch is based in Wembley, was founded by Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most senior religious figures in the Iranian theocracy.

After Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, Shirazi issued a fatwa describing the US and Israel as the “most wicked enemies of humanity”. He described how “the people of Iran and the Islamic world are the avengers of the blood of the martyred leader of the Revolution”, and said that “seeking revenge is the religious duty of all Muslims worldwide so that the evil of these criminals may be removed from the world.”

As reported by the Jerusalem Post, in 2009 Brent Council gave the charity £15,000 as part of attempts to promote “religious tolerance”. As per the Israeli paper, when the council was alerted to the charity’s links to the Iranian regime, it said that it has “not commissioned this [charity] since and have no future plans to fund them.”

Religious rulings issued by Shirazi over the years include determining that “in certain circumstances, death by stoning [for adultery] can be replaced by other methods of punishment”, and that under Shariah law, dogs are considered unclean creatures, with Iranian who keep dogs as pets having been “blindly imitating the West.”

The senior Iranian regime cleric also described the Holocaust as “nothing but superstition, but Zionists say that the people of the world should be forced to accept this. The truth about the Holocaust is not clear. When the researchers want to examine whether it is true or the Jews have created it to pose as victims, they jail the researchers.”

The trustees of International Islamic Link have reportedly stated that the charity has no current links to Shirazi.

The Charity Commission told the Mail: “We take very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism. This is why when concerns were first raised… we reviewed the evidence and met trustees at International Islamic Link.’

The Commission said it had issued “a regulatory action plan which required the trustees to ensure the charity was independent of external pressure or influence” and that “if new concerns are raised, we will assess these.”