By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent 18 February 2015
The Charity Commission is now investigating after an undercover reporter found staff praising terrorists
The chief executive of an Islamic charity has stepped down and an investigation launched after the organisation was accused of supporting extremism.
Global Aid Trust, which claims to raise money to educate the underprivileged and alleviate poverty around the world, was launched in 2004 and has an annual income of more than half a million pounds a year.
Global Aid HQ (ITV)But the Charity Commission is now investigating after an undercover reporter found its staff praising terrorists and even offering advice on how to become a jihadist in in Syria.
There is also an ongoing fraud investigation by the National Terrorism Financial Investigation Unit.
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Footage obtained by ITV’s Exposure documentary also found a speaker invited to address a Global Aid Trust even making anti-Semitic remarks and offering jihadists his blessing.
The charity’s chief executive officer, Rizwan Hussein, has now stepped down.
It is one of a number charities exposed by ITV1’s Exposure programme for allegedly spreading extremism, including the Steadfast Trust.
Posing as a volunteer, an undercover reporter begins working at Global Aid Trust’s headquarters, where he is introduced to a worker called Shaffiq Shabbar, who quickly confesses an admiration for hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who has inspired a string of terror attacks.
Saffiq Shabbar has now left Global Aid Trust (ITV)Mr Shabbar tells the reporter: “They spread loads of lies about him…He’s a scholar and basically he was imprisoned and after he came out of prison he started to incite hatred and telling the Western Muslims to bomb.
“He incited bombings basically. Bruv, he was a brilliant guy though.”
When asked if it is still possible to travel to Syria, Mr Shabbar replies: “You go to Turkey and jump over the border and when I say jump over the border I mean literally. You’ll probably have al Qaeda on the other side to help you, so it is very easy to go in.”
In another section of the documentary the charity books a preacher called Dawah Man to speak at an event on a boat on the River Thames.
Preacher Dawan Man denies making anti-Semitic comments (ITV)He was recently banned from speaking at the University of East London after referring to homosexuality as a “filthy disease”.
In his speech he makes a series of anti-Semitic comments, telling those gathered: “America, European countries, whatever you call it, these countries are controlled by Zionists.
“If you look at the biggest bankers in the world, that fund these countries, they are Zionists, and Zionists run Israel. So we can safely say that at any time there was an American, or English or whatever, invasion of the Muslim lands, it is all a problem coming back to the Children of Israel.
“Allah it would seem is punishing the greatest ummah [community] alive by the worst ummah [community] alive.”
In a statement a spokesman for Global Aid Trust said: “We firmly condemn and reject the comments made by Shaffiq and the external speakers. We express our great regret at these incidents, which were the result of a process failure in the organisation.”
The spokesman said Rizwan Hussain had now stepped down as CEO of Global Aid Trust and added: “We apologise to our supporters and those for whom distress is caused, and we will do our utmost to ensure no such situations occur again.”
Rizwan Hussein has now stepped down as CEO of Global Aid Trust (ITV)But a spokesman for the Charities Commission said what had they had seen had raised “serious regulatory concerns”.
The spokesman added: “In the case of Global Aid Trust, we were already dealing with issues of a similar nature and the new evidence will be added to our own.”
Islamic charity under spotlight after being accused of promoting extremism - Telegraph
