Violent jihad call leads to Charity Commission takeover of Brighton mosque

 From the Telegraph

The charities regulator has taken over the running of the oldest mosque in Brighton after its trustees failed to intervene when one of them urged worshippers to take part in violent jihad.

The mosque had been issued with an official warning in May, after Abubaker Deghayes gave an unsolicited speech telling people to engage in violent jihad, following the death of two of his sons in Syria.

Following the warning, the Charity Commission last week took the decision to suspend the entire board of trustees and appoint an interim manager to run the mosque and community centre.

The inquiry will investigate whether the mosque’s annual income of more than £55,000 and spending of  £44,026 has been properly accounted for and used exclusively for charitable purposes or whether there is evidence it has been syphoned off to support other funding, including suspected terror-related activities.

Andrew Wilkinson of Shakespeare Martineau LLP has now been put in charge of the day-to-day management and operation of the charity and will identify and appoint new trustees.

Deghayes was sentenced to four years in prison in April this year and given another year on licence after being found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of encouraging terrorism under the Terrorism Act.

An Old Bailey trial found that the 53-year-old had promoted terrorism when he told worshippers at Brighton Mosque, founded in the late 1970s, that they were obliged to undertake “jihad by sword”.

In it (his speech at the mosque)  he was seen to make a stabbing gesture when talking about jihad, telling worshippers: “Jihad, jihad, jihad. Jihad is compulsory. Jihad is fighting by sword. That means this jihad is compulsory upon you, not jihad is the word of mouth but jihad will remain compulsory until the day of resurrection…”

Worshippers who attended lunchtime prayers on Friday said their biggest concern was now keeping open the mosque.