A martial arts instructor who teaches kickboxing to children has a history of involvement with now-banned Hizb ut-Tahrir and has supported terrorism on social media, the JC can reveal.
Mohammed Farak, who spent years before the recent ban promoting events for the jihadi group and attended the national Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in Birmingham in 2022, works at a martial arts club in Stoke-on-Trent.
For several years Farak promoted meetings of the jihadi group held in a garage on a residential street in the city called The Unit.
In 2016, The Unit hosted an event titled “Sunni v Shia or Saudi v Iran” that was “organised by members of Hizb ut-Tahrir”, according to a poster.
“Monday circle will explain how the Sunni Shia conflict is a political tool to maintain the fragmentation of the ummah [global Muslim community] and how the Khilafah Rashidah will achieve unity and citizenship,” Farak wrote on Facebook at the time above the poster.
The Khilafah Rashidah, or Rashidun Caliphate, was the first caliphate created following the death of the prophet Muhammad. Hizb ut-Tahrir aims to recreate such a political system in the modern world.
Also in 2016, Farak shared a photo to his Facebook page showing him standing beside a stall selling a Hizb ut-Tahrir pamphlet titled, “explaining and responding to anti-Islamic propaganda.”
A year later, Farak shared a poster for another event at The Unit organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
“Radicalising the West against Islam,” he wrote on Facebook. “Not content war on Islam that has led to deaths with deaths of 4.5 million Muslims, Western governments have begun to radicalise their general populations against Islam and it’s values [sic].”
The same year he shared a poster for a Hizb ut-Tahrir event to be held at The Unit and in Birmingham at which an “inspirational message” could be heard.
There is no suggestion that Farak has supported Hizb ut-Tahrir since it was proscribed last week, however.
The Ummati Martial Arts Club, where Farak teaches kickboxing to children, is based in an unassuming red brick building on a residential street in Stoke-on-Trent and offers archery and fighting lessons for young people and enters candidates into martial arts tournaments.
It has pushed a claim on Facebook that Jews use accusations of antisemitism as a “trick” to avoid criticism of themselves and Israel. There is no suggestion that the club has supported Hizb ut Tahrir, however.
In 2015, Farak posted an image of Maher al-Hashlamoun who stabbed a 26-year-old Israeli woman to death as she stood at a bus stop outside the West Bank Alon Shvut settlement.
The Palestinian attacker had attempted to run over his victim, and attempted to stab several others before he was shot by a security guard.
The photo shared by Farak declared: “Palestinian sentenced to 200 years in Israeli prison, he laughed at the judge saying do you think you will last in my country for that long.”
Farak wrote alongside it: “Balfour… this is our response,” in an apparent reference to the British government’s declaration of support for the creation of the state of Israel.
Ummati Martial Arts and Farak have been contacted for comment.
