Hezbollah souvenirs in an Aladdin’s cave: Iranian influence under scrutiny in a British investigation
In the heart of London, a “community bazaar” held inside a charitable institution has raised serious questions after phone cases bearing Hezbollah slogans and keychains supporting the Iranian regime appeared at a recently launched event.
The Islamic Centre of England, an organisation officially registered as a charity, organised what it described as a “community bazaar”, which it said aimed to provide “a vibrant space for cultural interaction, the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and the strengthening of national and religious identity”.
However, The Telegraph obtained a photographic dossier showing items sold during the event, including phone cases featuring images of Hassan Nasrallah, the former secretary-general of Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2024.
Hezbollah, an armed group operating in southern Lebanon, is designated as a proscribed terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, meaning that displaying images potentially promoting it constitutes a criminal offence under British law.
The bazaar also featured posters displaying silhouetted images of other Hezbollah figures, including Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed in a US airstrike in January 2020.
Prominent images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini were displayed on the walls of the venue, alongside English-language translations of books written by Iranian leaders.
The bazaar was held on 14 December and included a stall selling keychains, one of which bore the phrase: “By God’s grace, Ali Khamenei is our leader”.
Another keychain was engraved with the slogan “Ba velayat ta shahadat”, a phrase deeply rooted in Shiite thought and Iranian revolutionary ideology, affirming absolute loyalty to the Supreme Leader.
Lord Walney, a former government adviser on political violence, said that “this dossier suggests that the Islamic Centre of England’s bazaar resembled an Aladdin’s cave of extremist content. Some of the items on display may breach counter-terrorism laws and are, at the very least, wholly inappropriate for an institution that continues to retain charitable status despite a series of recurring controversies”.
Islamic Centre of Britain
The independent member of the House of Lords, who is currently preparing a report on malign influence in the British charity sector, added that “if this issue is not addressed decisively, it will confirm the existence of a profound failure in the oversight mechanisms governing charities in the UK, a weakness that extremists can readily exploit”.
More than two thousand people attended the bazaar, during which memorabilia supportive of the Iranian regime were displayed inside the Islamic Centre of England.
For her part, Alicia Kearns, a Member of Parliament and Shadow Home Secretary, said that these recent revelations expose “the sale of terrorist propaganda materials within the Islamic Centre of England, providing further evidence of the need to close it down and to hold those responsible for promoting terrorist propaganda accountable under the law”.
She added that “the figures being glorified are responsible for the cold-blooded killing of tens of thousands of young Iranian protesters, in addition to numerous regional and international crimes committed by the Iranian regime”.
The centre had previously published the social media details of stallholders to promote the event, which was open to the public. Several of these accounts and websites confirmed that they do indeed sell products bearing Hezbollah symbols.
Islamic Centre of Britain
Located in the affluent Maida Vale neighbourhood of north-west London, the Islamic Centre of England has repeatedly faced accusations of serving as a front for the Iranian regime.
Critics have repeatedly called for its closure, with the earliest wave of concern dating back to January 2020, when it organised a candlelight vigil in memory of Qassem Soleimani.
The public display of support for the late general raised concerns that the centre could be charged with committing a terrorism-related offence. That vigil, along with another event that “glorified” Soleimani, resulted in an official warning from the Charity Commission.
In October 2022, the centre’s director, Seyed Hashem Mousavi, delivered a speech in which he described Iranian protesters opposing the regime as “enemies” and “soldiers of Satan”, and stated that women who refused to wear the hijab were “spreading poison”.
The following month, the Charity Commission launched a full statutory inquiry that could lead to the removal of the centre’s charitable status. The investigation remains ongoing.
A spokesperson for the Commission said: “As part of our ongoing inquiry into the Islamic Centre of England, we have raised concerns with the trustees regarding materials sold by third parties during a recent event hosted at the charity’s premises.”
