The Charity Commission has found a Brighton mosque to be “poorly managed” and disqualified a trustee during an inquiry sparked after a former trustee was convicted of encouraging terrorism.
The regulator opened the probe into Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre, locally known as Dyke Road Mosque, in August 2022 over concerns of failures to resolve an undisclosed dispute that was found to have damaged the charity’s management.
The row came after former trustee Abubaker Deghayes was convicted for encouraging violent jihad in a speech to around 50 people including children at the mosque on November 1 2020.
At least one trustee was also present at the speech after evening prayers, the Charity Commission said, who did not intervene or attempt to minimise the impact of the content of Deghayes’s actions.
Deghayes, of Saldean, East Sussex, was jailed for four years at the Old Bailey in April 2022.
In inquiry findings published on Wednesday, it concluded the charity was “poorly managed” and there was “misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of it”.
The regulator added: “The Commission’s intervention and the appointment of the interim manager were necessary to restore proper governance and administration to the charity.
“A new board of trustees have been appointed to run the charity, which the interim manager identified after a full and thorough recruitment exercise.”
The interim manager took control of the charity’s finances, including cash donations of more than £17,000.
The inquiry also disqualified former trustee Karim Aboutayab on July 10 last year, for four years and six months after finding he had a “greater culpability” for the mismanagement discovered in the charity’s affairs.
This included using an “inflammatory” tone towards others which contributed to the dispute’s escalation, and failing to file the charity’s annual accounts on time.
The Charity Commission first assessed concerns at the charity after Deghayes was charged for encouraging terrorism in July 2021, and
later issued an official warning after deciding then-trustees knew or should have known about the risk he posed, in May 2022.
Head of inspections at the regulator Joshua Farbridge said: “Abusing a charity to encourage terrorism is a grave breach of public trust and we expect all trustees to take steps to ensure their charities cannot become safe havens for terrorist or extremist views.
“While the earlier criminal conviction was outside the scope of our inquiry, what occurred at Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre demonstrates how serious disputes within a charity can not only severely impact its running and reputation, but leave a charity unprotected from the risk of exploitation by those with malign intentions.”
Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre has been contacted for comment.