Latest news with #AhlulbaytIslamicMission
Daily Mail
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Fears that 'anti-Jewish' summer camp accused of backing Iran could radicalise children as young as nine
A summer camp sponsored by an Islamic charity accused of backing Iran could expose children as young as nine to extreme views, it has been claimed. Camp Wilayah, which is run by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) charity, offers activities including archery and abseiling, as well as lectures and discussions. The four-day camp in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire is described as a 'unique opportunity' for children aged nine to 14 to build on their Islamic values. According to the charity's website, girls who attend must wear a hijab and loose clothing. They will also be separated from the boys for the duration of the camp, except for daily prayers, talks and a team photo. Camp Wilayah costs £180 per child to attend and has been run by Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission for a number of years. The Islamic organisation which is based in Cricklewood, north-west London, has been accused of backing Iran's theocratic regime. In posts on social media, the charity has repeatedly praised Tehran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei - and even described his books as a 'great read'. The organisation has also refused to condemn the terror group Hamas and said in the wake of the October 7 attacks that 'Zionists brought this disaster upon themselves'. Meanwhile in another post on Instagram from last year, young children can be seen drawing and colouring in Palestinian flags and watermelon symbols. Legal lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel has criticised the planned activities at the camp - saying they could incite hatred towards Jewish people. It said in a comment to The Telegraph: 'AIM's deep ideological alignment with the Iranian regime and its record of extremist propaganda presents an unacceptable risk to children. 'We hope the local authority and other agencies will act decisively to protect vulnerable young people from exposure to harmful and radicalising content.' UK lawyers for Israel has written to Brentwood Council in London and Hertfordshire Council asking for Camp Wilayah to be banned. The group warned councillors: 'There is compelling reason to believe that the event may be used as a platform to radicalise children, incite hatred or violence, and glorify terrorist ideology.' Pictured: An advert for this year's camp on the charity's website Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick also raised concerns that children should be allowed to attend camps run by 'supporters of the Iranian regime'. A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: 'We are aware of concerns around this planned activity camp, and we are working with partners to understand the situation and whether it raises any safeguarding issues.' MailOnline has contacted AIM for comment. There is no evidence the charity poses a risk to children and in a statement on their website it says its goal is to 'promote peace' and 'create a better world for everyone'. It reads: 'We at AIM are committed in our efforts to spread peace, tolerance and co-existence; and to promote social harmony as contained in our rich and abundant Islamic heritage. 'AIM believes that the continual pursuit of its objectives will create a better world for everyone.' Aim also described the camp as an 'amazing place to enjoy the outdoors, make new friends, learn and build on Islamic values'.
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
UK Islamic summer camp ‘risks radicalising children'
A summer camp sponsored by an Islamic charity accused of backing Iran could expose children to extremist views, it has been claimed. The camp, run by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) charity, is aimed at children aged nine to 14, with activities including climbing and abseiling along with 'lectures and discussions'. AIM describes Camp Wilayah, which is set to take place in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, next month, as an 'amazing place to enjoy the outdoors, make new friends, learn and build on Islamic values'. It promotes the four-day camp as 'a unique opportunity to explore your true potential amidst the serenity of nature and an Islamic ambience!' Girls who attend are required to wear the hijab and are segregated from the boys, other than for daily prayers, talks and a team photo. In an indication of the kinds of activities children at Camp Wilayah are likely to take part in, one AIM video posted on Instagram shows a group of young boys and girls drawing and colouring in Palestinian flags and watermelon symbols. The children, described as Mahdi's Little Believers, can also be seen making kites – in an apparent reference to the paragliders used by Hamas on October 7 to attack southern Israel. Legal lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) criticised the activities shown as 'symbolically connecting very young children with nationalist resistance. This exploitation of cultural education is a way of embedding ideological allegiance at a formative age'. In social media posts AIM, based in Cricklewood, north-west London, repeatedly praises the leader of Iran's theocratic regime, Ayatollah Khamenei, declaring that his books are 'an excellent source of knowledge and a great read', and refuses to condemn Hamas. It also posted material shortly after the October 7 attacks stating that 'the Zionists brought this disaster upon themselves'. There are now calls for Camp Wilayah to be banned over 'urgent safeguarding and counter-extremism concerns' for the children attending. UKLFI warned that it 'is being hosted by a group that openly promotes the revolutionary Islamist ideology of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei'. It has written to Brent council, where AIM is based, and Hertfordshire council, where Camp Wilayah is to be held, warning councillors: 'There is compelling reason to believe that the event may be used as a platform to radicalise children, incite hatred or violence, and glorify terrorist ideology.' The group goes on to claim that 'of particular concern is AIM's use of social media to disseminate extremist content that is anti-Semitic and conspiratorial'. One video, titled 'Know Thy Enemy' features a speaker describing Jews as the 'harshest', 'squatters', 'settlers' and 'violent', while accusing Israel, the so-called 'squatter state', of having a policy of murdering children. It also calls moderate Muslims who may be tolerant of Israel 'filth'. 'Other posts glorify and encourage martyrdom and justify Hamas's 7 October 2023 atrocities by reframing them as legitimate acts of resistance, omitting any mention of attacks on civilians, and likening Gaza to Nazi concentration camps. Countless posts accuse Israel of genocide and liken it to apartheid.' A UKLFI spokesman said: 'AIM's deep ideological alignment with the Iranian regime and its record of extremist propaganda presents an unacceptable risk to children. We hope the local authority and other agencies will act decisively to protect vulnerable young people from exposure to harmful and radicalising content.' Lord Walney, the government's former extremism adviser, has raised his concerns over plans to stage Camp Wilayah this summer, saying: 'We cannot allow propaganda and influence from this theocratic dictatorship to be spread to children in the UK.' He added: 'It is deeply alarming that schoolchildren are being taken to these camps. This raises further questions about the influence of Iran here in the UK.' Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has said that children should not be allowed to attend camps run by supporters of the Iranian regime. The concerns over Camp Wilayah come after Parliament's intelligence and security committee (ISC) warned on Thursday that the threat of physical attacks by Iran on the UK now matched that of Russia. The committee found that Iran's intimidation, including the fear of attacks on British Jews and Iranian dissidents living in the UK, was comparable in scale to the threat posed by Russia. AIM has run Camp Wilayah, which costs £180 per child, for a number of years. Pictures of the 2017 camp posted online show Hasan Ali al-Taraiki, a cleric associated with AIM, attending. In an interview posted on YouTube a year ago, he said that the persecution of Jews by Germany and European countries had been 'justified at the time'. Brent council told The Telegraph it had begun its own 'analysis' of Camp Wilayah and AIM's activities and was 'making its relevant partners aware'. A spokesperson for Hertfordshire county council said: 'We are aware of concerns around this planned activity camp, and we are working with partners to understand the situation and whether it raises any safeguarding issues.' AIM has been contacted for comment. It has previously defended its role, stating: 'The Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission serves communities in Britain. Unlike the roughly 3,000 Zionist organisations in the UK, it neither takes orders from nor represents the interest of any foreign power. 'We are proud of our record in opposing the 140-year Zionist campaign of genocide against the people of the Levant, which has included forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate aerial bombardment, among many other crimes.'
Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Fears over Iran-linked charity's plans for children's summer camp
An Islamic group with links to Iran has raised concerns with its plan to run a summer camp for children. Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) routinely shares material online from sermons and speeches by Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, and his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini. In one post, AIM called Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who was killed in 2020 in a US drone strike, a 'great hero'. AIM, a not-for-profit organisation, has also shared material from an imam who is Khamenei's representative in the UK. A preacher who previously spoke at its summer camp has shared antisemitic material online. On October 12, 2023, five days after the Hamas attack on Israel, AIM's Instagram account shared a message saying that 'a flood was
