UK-registered Islamic charity has described Qassim Soleimani as a “great martyr”

A UK-registered Islamic charity has described Qassim Soleimani, the Iranian general assassinated by the US, as a “great martyr”.

The Charity Commission said yesterday it was “currently assessing” the statement issued in praise of Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard by the Islamic Centre of England (ICE), who was killed in a drone strike last week.

The charity, which is entitled to tax relief and gift aid, hosted a vigil for Soleimani at its headquarters in north London at the weekend.

Its director Seyed Hashem Moosavi issued a statement on its website thanking mourners who attended the ‘memorial service of the great martyrs Qassim Soleimani” and Mahdi al-Muhandis who died with him.

He went on: “I also wish for the highly esteemed martyrs to be given the highest of positions, be showered with the mercy of God and to be joined with the master of martyrs.”

Soleimani is credited with masterminding the spread of Iranian influence across the Middle East, giving military and financial support to Hizbollah in Lebanon and to President Assad’s forces in Syria.

The US accused him of plotting global terrorism. Mr Moosavi was described at the time of his appointment to the role in June as “the new ‎representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, in the ‎United Kingdom”.

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