Mosque run by under investigation charity reopens

A mosque run by a religious charity under investigation by the Charity Commission has resolved problems accessing insurance and has now reopened.

The Islamic Centre of England had been forced to close its premises in London in May after struggling to secure the necessary insurance to keep it open.

This decision had been made after its insurers decided not to renew some of its insurance policies.

But in an update the regulator has confirmed the mosque has now reopened after the charity’s trustees and an interim manager appointed by the Commission had secured the cover.

The statutory inquiry into Islamic Centre of England was launched in November 2022 amid concerns around events at its mosque that “eulogised” the late Iranian military commander Major General Qasam Soleimani, who was killed by a US air strike in Iraq in 2020 and subject to UK sanctions.

But last month the regulator stressed that the mosque’s closure was due to insurance problems rather than other issues.

“Suggestions that the temporary closure resulted from factors other than the insurance matter are entirely false and misleading,” said the regulator in a statement.

The interim manager working with the trustees and reviewing its governance is Emma Moody, of Womble, Bond Dickinson.

She was brought in after the trustees’ “failure to comply with their legal duties and responsibilities and their failure to protect the charity’s assets”, said the regulator.