The Islamic Centre of England (ICE) is one of a number of pro-regime Iranian outposts across the UK and Europe, from Manchester to Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden and Finland.
Their main job, says Dr Paul Stott, the head of the security and extremism unit at think tank Policy Exchange, is to spread Iranian “soft power” and influence.
But one of the biggest centres in Europe, which is based in Hamburg, has also been accused by intelligence agencies of involvement with terrorism.
On 2 November, Germany expelled the Hamburg centre’s deputy director Seyed Soliman Mousavafir after the German equivalent of MI5, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BND), claimed it had evidence he had “ties with various terrorist groups”. It was also claimed that the centre had raised money for the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah.
The BND condemned the Hamburg centre’s involvement in Quds Day — an international event begun by Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini that features calls every year for the destruction of Israel. The BND described this as an “antisemitic” event, adding that it was a “Germany-wide gathering of Israel haters”.
Quds Day parades also happen in London, and both the ICE in London and the Manchester Islamic Institute (MII) have helped to organise it. Indeed, the MII has laid on free coaches to take parade-goers to London, most recently in May 2022.
In 2020, the ICE was given an official warning by the Charity Commission after its director Seyed Moosavi held a mourning vigil for the terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike.
However, unreported until now is that the MII and its leader, Seyed Assadollah Avaei, did exactly the same thing, announcing on its website a ceremony to commemorate Soleimani’s “martyrdom” by “the aggressor and criminal US regime”.
Research by the Community Security Trust shows that in November 2012, the MII hosted an event entitled “Islamic Revolution and Islamic Awakening” to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The speakers included James Thring, who has been filmed and recorded denying the Holocaust.
Labour's Afzal Khan on a visit to the Manchester centre
Another controversial speaker who has visited MII several times is cleric Saeed Bahmanpour, an outspoken supporter of Hezbollah. At the 2013 Quds Day rally he was filmed urging his audience to chant, “We are all Hezbollah”.
However, MII has also received more mainstream visitors.
Afzal Khan, former Manchester mayor and since 2017 a Manchester Labour MP, has been several times. On one occasion in 2014 he was there with Mr Bahmanpour and two then-serving Labour councillors, Aftab Ahmed and then Lord Mayor Naeem ul Hassan.
One visitor in 2017 was Manchester’s current Deputy Lord Mayor Yasmine Dar. In a video of her speech she says she had been to MII three times, adding: “We’re here for a celebration, a happy time, 38 years of the Iranian Islamic revolution so I’m absolutely happy.”
Her brother, Majid Dar, also a councillor, was suspended by Labour in 2019 amid claims he had posted antisemitic social media messages.
Dr Stott said told the JC: “The Islamic Republic of Iran poses a threat to social cohesion — not just here, but across Europe.
"We still have a tendency to pussyfoot where the Iranians are concerned, allowing the Supreme Leader to send representatives to work here. Other European countries are now looking critically at Iranian infrastructure in the west — we need to start doing the same.”
A CST spokesman said: “The JC’s revelations about Iran’s activities in this country ought to alarm everybody. This is a hostile regime … that poses an ongoing danger to Jewish communities around the world.”
A spokesperson for Afzal Khan said: “Afzal was unaware of the reported comments from other parties. He completely condemns these views and has spoken out against the Iranian regime not upholding human rights.”
Ms Dar, Mr Avaei and the Labour Party were contacted for comment.
