A Bahraini-born cleric living freely in Britain has shared platforms with Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, redefining ‘terrorism’ as a religious duty—yet the U.K. government has done nothing to stop him.
The cleric in question, Sheikh Hasan Ali Al-Taraiki, a radical Shia cleric originally from Bahrain, has delivered sermons at Camp Wilayah, an Islamist summer camp operating outside of London.
Al-Taraiki is not just a marginal religious preacher. For at least a decade, he has been a member of the International Union of Resistance Scholars – an organization openly aligned with Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.”
In March 2024, he traveled to Beirut to attend and address the conference Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous (“The Solid Structure”), a two-day event held to reinforce the presence and power of that axis as a means of deterring its enemies.
This was no academic seminar. Na’im Qassim, then deputy leader of Hezbollah and now its chief, spoke at the conference, as did Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas operative in Lebanon. Al-Taraiki’s presence alongside internationally designated terrorist leaders should alarm any responsible government, as should the title of the speech he gave at the conference: “The myth of human rights and the logic of force.”
Praised October 7 Massacre
In his speech, Al-Taraiki described the October 7 massacre as “a living spark that feeds the resistance, contributes to highlighting it, and achieves victorious accomplishments through its steps.”
“The operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ is a legitimate right for the Palestinians,” he said.
Ignoring Israeli peace offers and efforts to avoid civilian casualties, Al-Taraiki described the Jewish state as guilty of “genocide” and Hamas as “men of God” and “the lions of our resistance” who perpetrated not a massacre on October 7, but a “strategic surprise” that “exhausted the occupier in its barbaric aggression.”
[Sheik Taraiki’s] praise for the October 7 attack and support for Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ show how radical ideas are being spread through charities and religious platforms.
He argued that Western media had “colonized” Islamic terminology and insisted the Qur’anic term irhāb (terrorism) should be redefined positively—as a deterrent force that instills fear in enemies. “Irhāb has a positive meaning,” he declared. “That you are strong enough that your enemy does not even think of attacking you.” He urged clerics and media figures to spread this framing, effectively giving theological cover to terrorism.
The conference concluded with a communiqué praising “digging tunnels, acquiring weapons, and stockpiling” as evidence of the resistance’s seriousness—endorsed in the same hall where Al-Taraiki spoke.
None of this should come as a surprise. Al-Taraiki serves as imam at Dar Al-Hekma, a charity located near Regent’s Park that promotes Shia Islam, and has given talks at the Abrar Islamic Foundation. Abrar and Dar Al-Hekma are two U.K. registered charities described by the Jewish Chronicle as “hubs of support for the brutal Iranian regime and its terror networks.”
In late 2024, The Times reported that both organizations were under investigation and that a trustee at Dar Al-Hekma “praised a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and wrote, after the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, that Palestinians “rose up and became the master of the situation.”
Gio Esfan, an activist with Iran Together, an organization that advocates for human rights in Iran, calls on officials to “step in, stop these activities, and close down such organizations.”
“Sheikh Hasan Ali Al-Taraiki’s actions and links raise serious concerns about extremist influence in the U.K.,” Esfan told Focus on Western Islamism. “His praise for the October 7 attack and support for Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ show how radical ideas are being spread through charities and religious platforms. It is worrying that he can run charities, influence young people, and promote extremism in this country.”
Why is someone who speaks at such events, alongside such figures, living freely in the United Kingdom? Britain proscribes Hamas and Hezbollah in their entirety as terrorist organisations. In the past, the U.K. government has refused entry to elected representatives of Western democracies, such as Dutch politician, Geert Wilders. Yet Al-Taraiki, who has publicly aligned himself with a major terrorist network for years and is actively working to topple the government of Bahrain, appears untouched.
The presence of such a man in Britain sends a dangerous message—that the U.K. will grant safe harbour to extremist ideologues connected to global militant networks and states. Such indulgence threatens the welfare of the British people.
In light of Al-Taraiki’s presence in the U.K., the much-touted Foreign Influence Registration Scheme—introduced as part of the new National Security Act, which became law in July 2023—appears, so far, little more than words on paper. Despite its promise to bring transparency to foreign lobbying and influence operations in Britain, there is no visible evidence that the scheme is being implemented or enforced. The absence of action on such a key piece of legislation raises serious questions about the U.K. government’s commitment to tackling external interference in British political life.
