UK charity trustee belonged to sanctioned Iranian morality council

A member of a sanctioned Iranian morality body is taking legal action in the UK to appeal a ban which would prevent him from being a trustee of a charity for 12 years. Ahmad Vaezi is also the head of an Iranian propaganda body but has sought to cover up his links to the regime, a tribunal heard. Mr Vaezi is the head of the Islamic Propaganda Office (IPO), a member of Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution (SCCR) and the representative of Iran’s supreme leader on European student affairs. The SCCR was sanctioned in 2023 for its role in enforcing morality laws following the death of Mahsa Amini in prison after she was accused of breaking laws on wearing a headscarf. Mr Vaezi is appealing against a decision by the Charity Commission to disqualify him from serving as a trustee of the Al-Tawheed Charitable Trust. In a submission to a tribunal hearing the case in London, the commission’s lawyer, Adrian Francis, said Mr Vaezi’s close links to the Iranian regime “in themselves render him unfit to be a charity trustee”. Mr Vaezi has attended events in support of Hezbollah and Hamas, both of which are proscribed as <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/terrorism/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/terrorism/">terrorist</a> organisations by Britain, said Mr Francis. “The commission’s case is that it is self-evident a charity should not associate itself with a regime of such ill-repute and that doing so brings it, and the charity sector generally, into disrepute,” he said. Mr Vaezi sought to obstruct the watchdog’s inquiry “by deliberate suppression of such links”, said Mr Francis. He also sought to “mislead and obstruct the commission” on events that took place at Al-Tawheed’s premises in West London “and has, at the very least, turned a blind eye to the extremist activities that students and others connected to the London property can be shown to have engaged”. Mr Francis said the Iranian “has dishonestly sought to withhold information about his links to the Iranian regime; then, when confronted with his failure to disclose them, lied about the reasons for doing so”. The tribunal was told that a group called the Islamic Student Associations of Britain (IASL), which is part of the Union of Islamic Associations of Students in Europe, reportedly organised a remembrance event for Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, who was assassinated by the US in Baghdad in 2020. The student group <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2024/01/23/pressure-rises-in-uk-for-irgc-terror-status-after-videos-of-student-event-leaked/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2024/01/23/pressure-rises-in-uk-for-irgc-terror-status-after-videos-of-student-event-leaked/">allegedly live-streamed events</a> featuring current and former <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/irgc/" target="_blank" rel="" title="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/irgc/">IRGC</a> officers, including Gen Saeed Ghasemi, in 2020 and 2021. Gen Ghasemi falsely claimed the Holocaust was “a lie and a fake” and said British students could “bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world”. The video was shared at the time with the BBC by the US-based campaign group United Against Nuclear Iran. Mr Francis said this “demonstrates the British student group has engaged in extremist activity” and given Mr Vaezi’s 20-year association with the charity, it is “inconceivable he was not aware of the near-permanent presence and activities of the London student group”. The regulator is investigating the charity itself over the event and says it “is aware that speakers praised Suleimani and could hear anti-Semitic chants being made during the event”. Mr Vaezi, who also uses the surname Vaeijezei, remains a trustee while he appeals against the 12-year disqualification order imposed on him in January. He did not attend the hearing but details of his defence were provided in the commission’s submission to the tribunal. Mr Vaezi claims there is nothing inappropriate in being a member of the SCCR, despite its designation. He dismisses the designation as a political act and says his role is purely academic. He similarly contests that his leadership of the IPO, which he has held since February 2011, is incompatible with his trusteeship, insisting it is a non-political, educational, scientific and cultural institution that does not engage in propaganda. Another trustee, Seyed Moosavi, has appealed against his four-year disqualification for his role with Al-Tawheed and the Islamic Centre for England, one of the UK’s largest religious and cultural centres. A Charity Commission representative said it was “currently overseeing the remaining trustees’ progress on improving the charity’s governance and we put in place a protective order prohibiting a third party from using the charity’s premises”. “Decisions to suspend or disqualify trustees or senior managers of a charity are not taken lightly and are based on clear evidence it is necessary to protect charities,” the representative said.