Clergyman accused of paying IS to free slaves

A CLERGYMAN known as the Vicar of Baghdad has defended his actions after the charity watchdog found he committed serious misconduct following a probe into claims he intended to pay so-called Islamic State (IS) to release sex slaves.

Canon Andrew White said his work at a missionary charity was “highly appropriate for a religious leader living in a war zone”, after a Charity Commission report concluded he was likely to have caused “significant damage” to the charity’s reputation.

Trustees at the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME) reported to the Charity Commission in February 2016 that Canon White had ignored instructions not to associate himself with a “foreign organisation” that rescued women and children captured by IS.

Later that year, on June 9, the trustees again reported Canon White to the watchdog, saying they feared he intended to send $17,500 (£13,400) to the terror group.

They suspected Canon White, a fellow trustee and senior charity employee at the time, intended to use donations raised from two institutions in the US at a fundraising event for the charity’s sister organisation, FRRME US, but paid directly to him.

But Canon White denied he ever intended to send any money to IS, and said his support of the group which rehoused and rescued captured women and children was non-monetary and appropriate.

He said: “I wonder how those accusing me would have dealt with such daily bloodshed and torture, working in a country with so little infrastructure?”

A report by the commission said it had seen no evidence the payment to IS, also known as Isis, was made and Canon White was told no further action would be taken against him.