Organisation with a school on Cherry Orchard Road has raised more than £130m in two years for international aid, slammed by US authorities as a ‘sham’
Under arrest: Mohammad Yousef Hasna faces possible extradition to the United States
A charity based in Croydon has had its finances placed under strict controls after the arrest of one of its directors who is alleged to have diverted more than £550,000 to the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas.
Mohammad Yousef Hasna, 45, a Turkish national, was arrested on July 31 following an indictment by the US Department of Justice.
Prosecutors in America allege that Hasna used his senior role at the Croydon-based Al-Khair Foundation and conspired to provide material support to Hamas.
Hasna joined Al-Khair in August 2018 as a regional director before being promoted to global director in October 2023. He worked out of Istanbul.
The Al-Khair Foundation was established in 2003 by Imam Qasim Rashid Ahmad to “advance religion, promote education, support social welfare, build religious harmony and offer relief to victims of disasters”. It began as a school on Cherry Orchard Road, before expanding into broadcasting networks and international humanitarian relief.
According to public records, the charity almost doubled its income in 2023-2024, to £60million, and it recorded an income of more than £74million in the financial year ending July 2025. “Due to the concerns of possible serious risk to charitable funds”, the Charity Commission has issued a legal order restricting certain financial transactions by the charity without prior consent.
“Last month the Commission received a complaint alleging the charity and its partners had connections to Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation,” a formal statement said.
“It also alleged the charity had funded the organisation. The regulator immediately started examining the serious concerns raised and gathered more information to inform its assessment. The Commission has now escalated its engagement to a statutory inquiry.”
Hasna’s role has been to deliver aid in Gaza.
He was arrested on July 31 in the UK, facing possible extradition to the United States. The Charity Commission said it “will be considering all relevant information as part of its investigation, which will include verifying his connection to the charity, and wider allegations made about the charity”.
American government agencies have referred to Al-Khair as a “sham charity”.
Overseas aid: Al-Khair delivers millions of pounds of emergency aid around the world, including Australia, numerous countries in Africa, the United States and the Middle East. It also has a school on Cherry Orchard Road. US government sources have labelled it a ‘sham charity’
Central to the allegations is the claim that Hasna diverted more than $700,000 from Al-Khair’s legitimate humanitarian funds, routing supplies into Hamas-controlled warehouses in Gaza and failing to report their true operational control.
One Croydon source who knew Imam Qasim during the foundation’s inception recalls that the original Croydon school was created to provide young people with a grounded, “holistic Islamic” education away from extremist influences, at a time when many Muslim families were sending their children to Pakistan to be educated in madrassas.
“How does working hand-in-hand with Hamas fit into that original vision?” the source asked.
The US Department of Justice issued a shocking statement following the arrest.
“Mohammad Yousef Hasna, also known as ‘Orhan Korkmaz’ and ‘Abu al-Baraa’, 45, of Istanbul, Turkey…” is charged… “with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, a US- designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), and related terrorism financing charges.
“As alleged, Hasna used his senior role at a purported global humanitarian organization to coordinate directly with Hamas’s senior leadership regarding the delivery of funds and supplies to Gaza, and the distribution of those funds and supplies at Hamas leadership’s instructions”.
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Why are people being arrested in this country at the behest of the “terrorist” USA, a nation led by a war-mongering racist, corrupt, serial rapist?
Interesting, isn’t it? Hamas, after all, are “proscribed” in Britain, too.
And yet IDF members implicated in war crimes in Gaza are still walking free in this country, with the Met still sitting on a pile of evidence.
Add to that the news that Downing Street has refused to answer questions about the Israeli psyops organisation called BlackCore, which has interfered in elections in Scotland (and France and New York City).
The reason? To “avoid giving offence to other nations and retain the trust of our international partners”… Taking into account all the circumstances of this case, we have determined that the balance of the public interest favours withholding this information.”
Two-tier justice
Isn t Hamas the elected govrrnment in Gaza and therefore every official works for them? I know this is why Israel detains so many Palestinians “members” of Hamas when in fact they have no choice but to WORK for them. I suspect this is why food was delivered to Hamas run warehouses – they are probably government warehouses. It is time to call out the lies and grow a spine all you politicans out there.