Another example of how ordinary people are sucked into supporting terrorism by ordinary Muslims at their local mosques. No-one believes Meghan purposely wanted to support terrorism, it just happens automatically when you support Islam.
- The Al Manaar Muslim centre in London is said to be linked to 19 terror suspects
- One imam allegedly claimed women listening to music could become strippers
- Imam Samer Darwish also suggested women should not pray while on periods
- Other jihadists with alleged links to the mosque include three of four ‘Beatles’
- One is said to have stood outside the mosque and preached extremist views
- The Duchess of Sussex has promoted a cookbook at a community kitchen there
A community kitchen supported by Meghan Markle is based in a mosque with links to terror suspects, it was alleged last night.
The Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre is claimed to have links to 19 Islamic extremists including Jihadi John.
A report in the Telegraph said that one of the imams at the mosque near Grenfell Tower had suggested women who listened to music were at risk of becoming strippers.
The Duchess of Sussex has promoted a charity cookbook on the back of numerous visits to the Hubb Community Kitchen, based at the mosque.
A community kitchen supported by Meghan Markle, pictured preparing food there this week, is based in a mosque with links to terror suspects, it was alleged last night.
Meghan cooks with women in the Hubb Community Kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in West London.
The imam in question, Samer Darwish, is reported to have suggested that women should not pray while they are on their periods.
He is also said to have claimed in the past that women should not cry when visiting graves.
Mr Darwish has since posted a statement on his Facebook page in which he denies many of the claims.
Attitudes such as this are at odds with what the Duchess has campaigned for in the past.
She made her feminist values clear from the offset and she and husband Harry have chosen to focus their efforts on charities that empower women.
And her passion for women’s rights is one that dates back long before she became royalty, when in 2015 she participated in a UN Women campaign encouraging more women to be leaders.
Other jihadists with alleged to have links to the mosque include three of the four ‘Beatles’.
Choukri Ellekhlifi, Alexanda Kotey and Aine Davis, who are all from west London, are believed to have attended at on point.
The ‘Beatles’ – nicknamed after the British band because of their English accents – were involved in jihadist activity and became one of the Islamic State’s most notorious terrorist silos.
They were led by the infamous Jihadi John – also English – whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi and was killed by a drone strike in Syria three years ago.
The terrorist group was behind the murder US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and aid worker and Iraq war veteran Peter Kassig.
One of the terror cell, Kotey is alleged to have stood outside the mosque and preached extremist views and in 2008 became involved with a group believed responsible for the 7/7 bombings.
Kotey was captured in January earlier this year as he attempted to flee Syria, and was held by the US-backed Syrian Defence Force.
While Aine Davis, also believed to have links to the mosque, was in 2017 found guilty of being a senior member of a terrorist organisation, and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
In 2014 his wife, Amal el-Wahabi, was convicted of funding terrorism after she persuaded a friend to try and smuggle £16,000 in cash to him.
What are the claims against the mosque?
- Samer Darwish, an Imam at the mosque, is claimed to have said women should not pray while on their periods.
- He is also believed to have said women who listened to music were at risk of becoming strippers.
- And that women should not cry when visiting graves.
- The mosque is also believed to have links to three of the four ‘Beatles’ – who were involved in jihadist activity and became one of the Islamic State’s most notorious terrorist silos.
- One of the ‘Beatles’, Alexanda Kotey, is alleged to have stood outside the mosque and preached extremist views.
- Another believed to have links to the mosque is Aine Davis, whose wife, Amal el-Wahabi, was in 2014 convicted of funding terrorism after she persuaded a friend to try and smuggle £16,000 in cash to him.
- He was in 2017 found guilty of being a senior member of a terrorist organisation, and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Research apparently carried out by the Henry Jackson Society said the Duchess had been ‘poorly advised’ over her links to the mosque.
‘This is not one or two isolated cases but 19 separate individuals,’ a director of the anti-extremist group was quoted as saying.
A spokesman for the mosque told the newspaper that the Muslim centre was ‘on the record rejecting and condemning extremism and terrorism’.
Abdulrahman Sayed described it as a ‘vibrant and welcoming community hub’ that encouraged a sense of belonging for Muslims.
Meghan has written the foreword to Together, a collection of global dishes by women from the Grenfell community and others, which aims to raise funds to expand their culinary work at the Al-Manaar mosque.
She returned to the mosque this week, putting on an apron and helping to prepare food.
Meghan helped prepare a large dish of rainbow roasted vegetables as she introduced chef Clare Smyth, a friend of hers, to the volunteers in the kitchen.
The book took the number one spot on Amazon within hours of being unveiled two months ago and has since sold nearly 40,000 copies in the UK alone, raising £210,000.
The kitchen, redesigned with the women’s input to capture its spirit as a place for the community to come together over meals, now opens seven days a week, up from just two when it began last year.
The 37-year-old is understood to have made several private visits to the mosque in Westbourne Park.
Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, was killed in an airstrike in November 2015.
When contacted by The Telegraph, a spokesman for Kensington Palace said: ‘The funds raised by the cookbook are supporting the Hubb Community Kitchen, which is an independent project that leases space from Al Manaar.
‘The project is empowering the women and helping provide some hope and joy to a community that has gone through unspeakable tragedy.’
