UK Muslim charity slams 'institutional Islamophobia' after regulator concludes two-year investigation

Human Aid UK has welcomed the end of a long and drawn out inquiry conducted by the Charity Commission on Thursday, claiming the investigation was based on Islamophobia. 

The Muslim charity, which provides emergency assistance to all communities, released a statement outlining alleged institutional bias where they said the commission was “excessive in its approach” and acted as an “extension of police and security services harassment policy”. 

“The institutional Islamophobia faced by Human Aid UK has been further compounded in the way the Commission has presented certain events in the two-year investigation, using incriminating language against the charity,” said the statement. 

The aid group also drew a comparison between the treatment they faced with the way the Charity Commission handled claims of sexual exploitation against Oxfam:

“The institutional bias of the Charity Commission report into Human Aid UK is evident when compared to the report into the serious allegations of sexual misconduct at Oxfam a non-Muslim charity, which was completed in less time, and which resulted in a carefully worded 143-page report, “ Chair of Human Aid UK, Nur Choudhury said. 

Human Aid UK workers were stopped by border police at Heathrow Airport in July 2019, under the schedule 7 counter-terrorism act 2008, as they were on their way to deliver aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Police seized £9,200 from the workers who were carrying the charitable funds intended for aid in Gaza. The money was later returned to the charity in May 2020 after finding no connection with illegal activity. 

The commission said it had “provided advice and guidance to the Charity several times” regarding cash couriering prior to the instance of the charity’s cash being taken away. 

Due to the two-year-long investigation, Human Aid has said it has lost valuable resources which could have been better used to help people in Syria, Gaza, and Yemen, but was “pleased that the Charity Commission has concluded with no further action”.