Imam gunned down on a London street by ‘Syrian hit squad’
‘Suffering from gunshot injuries’
A SYRIAN preacher at a fundamentalist mosque was shot dead in broad daylight on a London street yesterday in a suspected assassination by his country’s regime.
Abdul Hadi Arwani, 48, a fierce critic of president Bashar al-Assad, was found slumped in a Volkswagen Passat with wounds to his chest in the suburban street at 11.15am.
An air ambulance was called but he was declared dead at the scene in Wembley half an hour later.
The preacher is understood to have six children, including a one-year-old girl.
Last night a police source told the Daily Mail that the killing had all the hallmarks of a ‘state-sponsored assassination’.
Detectives are now trying to establish whether his strong opposition to Assad was the motive.
He was involved in violent anti-Assad demonstrations outside the Syrian Embassy in London three years ago.
Police were forced to use riot shields to beat back protesters after they broke through barriers, and six people were arrested. Mr Arwani told reporters during the demonstration: ‘This building belongs to the Syrian people, not a regime killing people every single day for ten months.’
Last night tributes were posted to him on Twitter. One read: ‘Just received the news Sheikh Abdul Hadi has been murdered. may Allah grant him jannatul firdous [paradise].’
Scotland Yard’s homicide and major crime command appealed for anyone who might have seen the Volkswagen in the hour leading up to the killing to get in touch.
A spokesman said: ‘Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 11: 15am today to reports of a man found suffering what is believed to be gunshot injuries to his chest.
‘The man, aged in his late 40s, was found sitting in a dark coloured Volkswagen Passat, in Wembley. The man was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.48am. At this very early stage detectives retain an open mind regarding the possible motive.’
Mr Arwani was a preacher at the An-Noor Mosque in Acton, West London, which has a reputation for hosting fundamental- ist speakers. The mosque also has well- established links to Syria. Regular worshipper, Ali al-Manasfi, 23, was shot dead at a check point in Idlib province, Syria, in May 2013, apparently while fighting with a group called Ahrar al-Sham.
Mohamed Dubad, 44, a parttime IT engineer said he had seen Mr Arwani several days ago at the mosque.
He added: ‘This is a shock. He was a quiet, simple person.’
A woman who has been attending mosque since 2011 added: ‘I used to help in his office to fix his Korans and his wife used to teach me Arabic.
‘I have good memories of him. I’m still digesting what happened to him, it will take a while.’
Mr Arwani was born in Syria but had been based in the UK for the past three years, where worked as an Islamic teacher.
According to the London College of Islamic Studies, he had studied at the Faculty of Sharia in Jordan, and was a teacher at various Islamic seminaries in Slough and West London.
Mr Arwani was considered an authority on Islamic marriage contracts and divorce law, working mostly in London.