Iran expands Shiite mosque network in Europe

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Iranian rogue regime has already established a vast network of Shiite mosques and other Shiite organizations across Europe with the agenda of exporting its notorious activities. According to report, in November 2020, Norway’s Police Security Service (PST) had asked for the imam of Iran-funded Imam Ali Shia mosque in Oslo to be expelled for his involvement in radicalizing people and giving provocation of waging terrorist attacks on civilians and diplomats from western nations, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The imam of Ali Shia mosque was also helping members of Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in the European nations.

The unnamed imam’s expulsion is still pending with the Norwegian court. PST described the reason of his expulsion as “based on national security interests”.

According to Investigative Project on Terrorism, the imam is identified as HojjatolIslam Seyyed Mostafa Motahari, who went to Oslo from Iran in 2016. The imam allegedly works for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and has connections with an Iranian-Norwegian dual national, Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei, who was found guilty by a Danish court in June of collecting information about Iranian exiles in Denmark. Mohammad Loloei gave the information about one of the subjects “to a person working for an Iranian intelligence service for use by the intelligence service’s plans to kill the exile,” the court said.

Tehran’s deep-covered spy Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei entered Norway nine years ago as a fake asylum seeker and succeeded in getting Norwegian citizenship.

The website of Imam Ali Shia mosque in Oslo gives no information about people involved with it in the ‘About Us’ page, while it claims to be “an independent public and religious institution with no ties to any government”.

But the reality is totally opposite. According to hajj.ir website, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme Leader’s representative office for Hajj pilgrimage mentions HojjatolIslam Seyyed Mostafa Motahari as the head of the Imam Ali Mosque in Norway.

Back in 2017, in an interview published on its website, Motahari said he is delighted about the number of Arbaeen marches taking place throughout the European cities.   

Arbaeen is a Shiite religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the holiest Shia figure, killed in a battle in Karbala, in 680 CE. A public mourning ceremony that until a few years ago was unheard of in Europe, it has been used by the Iranian regime as a political protest throughout Europe in the last few years similar to the annual Al-Quds march.

In the interview, HojjatolIslam Seyyed Mostafa Motahari said that “the newly awakened youth [read Iran recruited Shiite jihadists] in Europe by taking part in the Arbaeen ceremony are showing their solidarity with the Islamic resistance [read Shiite conquest of the west]”.

In 2020, thousands of Shiite Muslims turned up for the Arbaeen march in London, waving flags of the Hashd Al-Sha’bi – the Iranian backed Shia militia group in Iraq, responsible for kidnapping and killing British soldiers and civilians. Shiite Muslims in Britain took part in this march defying COVID-19 restrictions.

In the interview, Iranian Shiite imam Motahari, who also assumed to be a member of intelligence displayed his total devotion and affiliation to Iran’s Supreme Leader by praising Ali Khamenei’s letter to the youth in Europe, where Khamenei had called for waging jihad against western “infidels”.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s 2015 open letter was later edited and uploaded on the website, which was promoted on his Twitter account (without any which was promoted on his website and on his twitter account (without any “fact check” flags by Twitter). In the letter, Khamenei blames Western powers for violence against Muslims: The Islamic world has been the victim of terror and brutality to a larger extent territorially, to greater amount quantitatively and for a longer period in terms of time. Second, that unfortunately this violence has been supported by certain great powers through various methods and effective means.

And as usual no opportunity is missed by the notorious Khamenei to portray Israel as the most brutal regime in the world: “A Palestinian family is not secure even in its own home from the Zionist regime’s death and destruction machinery,” he wrote. He said, What kind of atrocious violence today is comparable to that of the settlement constructions of the Zionist regime?

Motahari ended his interview by saying how the Arbaeen marches in Europe will help galvanize the resistance to the sanctions against Iran.

Motahari’s devotion and affiliation to Iran’s Supreme Leader is also evident in his previous official posts. Prior to being appointed as the imam of the mosque in Oslo, Motahari worked with the Dar-ol-Hadith institution, which was established in 1995 by Khamenei’s direct orders as one of the subordinate bodies of the Al-Mustafa International University, one of Iran’s main arms for disseminating Khomeinist ideology abroad.

This is all in stark contrast with the Imam Ali Mosque’s website claim that it is “an independent public and religious institution with no ties to any government”.

The Imam Ali mosque receives 600,000 NK annually in Norwegian taxpayer money. Other European governments also contribute to Iran’s Islamic centers and mosques. Iran’s leaders must laugh knowing they can spread their influence in Europe and radicalize European youth with their poisonous Khomeinist ideology at public expense.

Iran continues to exploit European Union’s guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion by spreading its complex network of mosques, Islamic centers, cultural and educational centers under the disguise of religious worship, but with the real intention of spreading the Khomeinist ideology of political Shia Islam.

Hanne Blomborg, Norway’s counterintelligence chief said: I can say that we see in Europe how Iran uses religious centers and mosques as a platform for intelligence and surveillance of opposition figures. We have also seen this in Norway.

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