22 February 2011

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales, has today published a report on its inquiry into the charity Iqra, (registered charity no. 1095966). The charity's object was the advancement of the Islamic faith; it furthered this by running the Iqra Learning Centre, a bookshop and centre for religious learning in Leeds. The charity ceased to operate in 2005.

Following the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005, the charity was publicly linked to two of the perpetrators who died in the attacks and had been former trustees of the charity. A further two former trustees were found guilty of terrorism related offences.

The Commission opened a statutory Inquiry to examine whether the charity may have been involved in terrorist, extremist or other inappropriate activities and ensure that the charity's property and remaining funds were properly used to further its objects.

From an analysis of the information available, including financial records relating to the charity, there was no evidence that the charity's funds had been used to facilitate the attacks.

Kenneth Dibble, Director of Legal and Compliance at the Charity Commission, said:

"The public association of this charity with those who carried out the 7/7 attacks raised serious regulatory concerns for the Charity Commission. Although the investigation of the attacks themselves was a matter for police and other law enforcement agencies, we had a duty to investigate any role played by the charity in their planning."

The Inquiry reviewed the material removed by the police from the charity's premises as part of the criminal investigation into the 7/7 attacks. This included video tapes, written material and material held on the charity's computers. The Inquiry found that the majority of this material was appropriate for a charity with the object of advancing the Islamic faith. However, some was political, biased, propagandist or otherwise inappropriate for a charity.

The Inquiry found that following the 7/7 attacks in 2005 the charity's remaining trustees disassociated themselves from it. Before doing so they did not take appropriate steps to ensure that the charity's remaining assets were applied in furtherance of its charitable purpose. The Inquiry consequently temporarily froze the charity's bank accounts to protect its remaining funds. The Commission will exercise its regulatory powers to ensure their use for the purpose of the charity.

The report published today by the Commission highlights issues arising from this investigation that should be taken into account by trustees across the wider charitable sector. It is the responsibility of trustees to safeguard their charity from the risk of abuse, including terrorist abuse. The Commission has published clear, practical guidance for trustees on this issue, Protecting charities from harm: Charities and terrorism, which is available on the Commission's website - www.charitycommission.gov.uk.

The full report of the inquiry is available on the Charity Commission's website. For further information, please contact the press office.

PR 09/11

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. See www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information or call our contact centre on 0845 300 0218.

2. Our mission is: to ensure charities' legal compliance, enhance charities' accountability, encourage charities' effectiveness and impact and to promote the public interest in charity.

3. * 'Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London on 7 July 2005' (HC 1087) 11.05.2006

4. The Charity Commission's Counter Terrorism Strategy represents the Commission's formal statement of its approach to delivering its regulatory response to the threat of terrorist involvement or abuse in the charitable sector. The strategy sets out a four strand approach comprising: Awareness, Oversight, Co-operation and Intervention. It can be found on our website at - http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Our_regulatory_activity/Counter_terrorism_work/ctstrategy.aspx.

5. The Commission conducts two kinds of investigation cases. Most concerns are dealt with through non-statutory investigations called ‘regulatory compliance cases'. However, in cases of significant risk and more serious regulatory concern we may open a statutory inquiry under section 8 of the Charities Act 1993. The decision to open a statutory inquiry will be based on a number of factors, including evidence of serious suspicion of misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity and/or risk to property. The criteria we use are set out in our Risk and Proportionality Framework for the Commission's compliance work.

6. More information about the Charity Commission's Compliance Division can be found in Charities Back on Track, a report on the themes and wider issues arising from the Commission's compliance work. This can be found on the Commission's website.