Legal experts and politicians have warned that a British summer camp run by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) charity, which is accused of backing Iran, risks exposing children to extremist views, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Legal lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) warned that the annual summer camp “is being hosted by a group that openly promotes the revolutionary Islamist ideology of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei”, and have called for its closure.
Aimed at children aged 8-13, girls must wear hijab and are segregated from the boys, with the camp embedded in what the website calls "Islamic values", helping "foster a deeper connection to faith".
A UKLFI spokesman told The Telegraph: “AIM’s deep ideological alignment with the Iranian regime and its record of extremist propaganda presents an unacceptable risk to children. We hope the local authority and other agencies will act decisively to protect vulnerable young people from exposure to harmful and radicalizing content.”
Lord Walney, the government’s former extremism adviser, also warned against the possible influence of the camps. “We cannot allow propaganda and influence from this theocratic dictatorship to be spread to children in the UK.
"It is deeply alarming that schoolchildren are being taken to these camps. This raises further questions about the influence of Iran here in the UK.”
On Thursday, the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee warned of rising threat of physical attacks by Iran against the UK, citing Tehran’s targeting of British Jews and Iranian dissidents living in the country.
In social media posts, north-London based AIM has repeatedly praised Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling his books “an excellent source of knowledge and a great read”.
While the group denies representing a foreign state, it openly uses material from speeches by Khamenei and his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.
They have also praised Qasem Soleimani, the former Quds Force commander killed in a 2020 US drone strike, calling him a “great hero”.
