Drivers on the North Circular Road orbiting London will spot the imposing arch of Wembley Stadium but may not see Crown House, the shabby and forlorn office block nearby.
Step out of the lift on the seventh floor of the monochrome building, having passed along a dimly-lit corridor, and you come to Suite 702, where a brass plate screwed to the door is the only marker.
Yet this spot is a contender for London's most sanctioned location. Last week, the latest person with links to the office address to be placed under sanctions was revealed. Zaher Birawi is alleged by the US Treasury to be a senior official and founding member of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), an entity that was also sanctioned.
When The National visited Crown House, there appeared to be little sign of any activity. A woman who worked in the business next door could not recall having seen anyone come and go or detected the presence of anyone in the office.
No company logos or branding give a hint to what lies on the other side of the locked door, which is shut against prying eyes and shows no sign of life.
Yet it is home to a matrix of individuals and companies – some active, others dormant or dissolved – placed under sanctions by the US and other countries for links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
That Crown House could be an alleged location of the Muslim Brotherhood is a product of how the organisation has grown and spread over decades. The organisation's playbook is a swirl of corporate registrations and interlocking directorships, not least at this place.
Mr Birawi is also a director and owner of Asira Media and Public Relations, whose office address is Suite 702. He is also a trustee of the Education Aid for Palestinians, which is also registered at the same address.
The PCPA is a main organiser of recent flotillas to Gaza that have included the Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.
But the US Treasury claims that the PCPA acts “clandestinely” on behalf of Hamas and is a “front organisation” for the Palestinian group, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK, and “operates according with Hamas directives”.
A statement from the US Treasury in January alleges “strategic and tactical aspects of the PCPA’s activity are controlled by Hamas through the placement of key Hamas-linked figures in major positions throughout the organisation”, including another person linked to Crown House, Majid Al Zeer.
Mr Al Zeer served as the chairman and president of the PCPA and is senior Hamas figure in Europe, according to the US.
The dual UK and Jordanian national, who was born in Bethlehem and moved to the UK in 1992, founded the Palestinian Return Centre in 1996. It is also located in Crown House, although on a different floor.
Mr Al Zeer was its chairman until 2021, the biography on his website states. According to Companies House, he was a director and owner until January 2025. From 1998 to 2009, Mr Birawi was another director.
On October 7, 2024, a year after the Hamas attack on Israel, the US Treasury announced Mr Al Zeer was sanctioned as part of measures against a “significant international Hamas fund-raising network”.
It said the action taken against Mr Al Zeer and others “highlights the abuse of the non-profit organisation (NPO) sector by terrorist financiers through the use of sham charities to generate revenue”.
He was described by the US as “the senior Hamas representative in Germany, who is also one of the senior Hamas members in Europe and has played a central role in the terrorist group’s European fund-raising”.
“He has appeared publicly with other senior Hamas members in order to generate funding and other support for Hamas. Mr Al Zeer has also served in Hamas delegations in the Middle East.”
The US linked him with Adel Doughman, who it alleged was in charge of Hamas activity in Austria and one of the most prominent Hamas representatives in Europe, as well as Italy-based Hamas member Mohammad Hannoun, who the US claims has raised at least $4 million for Hamas over a 10-year period.
Mr Doughman is also a key figure in the PCPA, says the US Treasury, which placed him under sanctions at the same time as Mr Al Zeer.
Mr Al Zeer is currently the chairman of the Brussels-based European-Palestinian Council for Political Relations. He did not respond to requests for comment by The National.
In a statement issued after the sanctions were imposed he described the US Treasury's decision as “completely irrational, lacking professionalism and legality”, contained “wholly inaccurate” information that “lacks credibility”. He said the “false accusations” were part of a “broader alignment with the Israeli occupation’s agenda to criminalise anyone who works for the Palestinian cause” and he intended to challenge the decision.
In a statement to The National, Mr Birawi said “I categorically reject this designation” which “does not constitute a judicial finding” and he was consulting with lawyers to challenge the decision.
“To the best of my knowledge and belief at the time of my involvement, the PCPA was presented and operated as an independent civil and political body engaging in peaceful political activity, and as operating in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the countries in which it functioned,” he said.
“I was not aware of, nor involved in, any unlawful activity, nor of any affiliation with or support from organisations designated on terrorism lists.”
Crown House connection
Sharing a link to the 702 office space is Ahmed Al Nuaimi, who owns six businesses registered at Crown House, and has links with the highest echelons of the Muslim Brotherhood. There is no suggestion that the building management has any knowledge of the tenants' business activities. One of Al Nuaimi’s businesses registered at Crown House is a film company named Ima6ine, which was founded in 2016 and also sanctioned last year.
According to its Facebook profile, which features images of film crew in branded sweatshirts on set, Ima6ine is “one of the most imaginative independent film production companies in the UK”.
Despite this description, its small turnover means it is entitled to file unaudited, reduced disclosure accounts. It posted a profit of £4,871 the year it was founded, with 2020 representing a high point when it made a profit of £15,074. The company has now been wound down and is currently dormant.
Al Nuaimi was tried in absentia by the UAE in 2013 on national security charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was sanctioned and added to the terrorist list by the UAE in 2021.
He has been described as being a leading member of political organisation Al Islah, which has been accused by the UAE of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both organisations are proscribed by the UAE as terrorist organisations.
A photograph of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian who was a Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, is posted on his Facebook page. Qutb's thinking has been described as being the inspiration for terrorist organisations.
Hamas links
According to imdb.com Ima6ine made three films, including 100 Balfour Road – a 12-minute work which is a metaphor for the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The film can be viewed the YouTube channel of the Palestinian Return Centre, whose website says it is an advocacy group for refugees focused on the aftermath of the Nakba of 1948 and is not affiliated with any political party or movement.
The Palestinian Return Centre's website also states 100 Balfour Road was produced for it by Ima6ine.
Also registered at Suite 702 is another of Al Nuaimi’s companies, the Cambridge Education and Training Centre, founded in March 2014, and sanctioned last year.
The company's filings show it has four employees and assets of £3,244. Given its small size it is not required to file full accounts.
The Cambridge Education and Training Centre is described on its website and Facebook page as an education consultancy which offers home education and live lectures.
Its features adverts for Quran-themed trips for boys aged 12-16 in the Peak District hills of the UK, with pictures of past visits.
There are also adverts for trips for boys to travel to Turkey to learn Arabic, Turkish and horse riding which are advertised at £799 ($1060).
These trips are organised in partnership with other organisations, including the Muslim Association of Britain. MAB was named in parliament by minister Michael Gove as being an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, while a 2015 government report concluded it was “dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood”.
The MAB said in a statement that the remarks by Mr Gove “reflect a long and well-documented pattern of Islamophobic behaviour” and suggested that he was “using parliamentary privilege to make unsubstantiated claims … shielded from legal challenge”. It said MAB was a British organisation “rooted in this country’s civic life, committed to serving our communities and working for the common good. We reject attempts – whether from foreign regimes or domestic ideologues – to delegitimise our presence or silence our voice”.
Among Cambridge Education and Training Centre’s first shareholders was Anas Mekdad, who was also a director until 2015.
Mr Mekdad served as the head of administration and finance for an Ajman-based organisation, Arabian Gulf Centre for Educational Consultations, which was shut down in 2012 by the authorities for being part of the banned Al Islah political party.
He has previously been a director of Connection Media, the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, and Jakutaas, which were registered at Crown House, although they have since been dissolved. The Emirates Centre for Human Rights has been linked with the Muslim Brotherhood and was dissolved in 2016.
Al Nuaimi’s web
Al Nuaimi has been the director, owner, or both, of four other businesses registered at Crown House, including one in which Mohamed Al Zaabi was also a director. Mr Al Zaabi has been sanctioned by the UAE for links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The companies' filing history reveals none appear to have done significant trade and they have all been dissolved.
Another company which was placed on the sanctions list in January last year, Wasla, was originally registered at the same north London address where Al Nuaimi lives. The company is part owned by Alyha Al Nuaimi, although she resigned as a director in 2019, and describes itself as providing workshops and clubs to support Arabic learners. It is not clear if the pair are related.
The company was dormant from 2023 onwards before it was struck off by Companies House, which happens when a company fails to file accounts. Throughout its time operating its assets were usually around £300 ($400).
The National visited Al Nuaimi's home last year. The detached property with driveway in a pleasant street lies a short drive away from Crown House. The large two-floor house has canopy at the front door held up by four columns. A large SUV and a smaller car were parked in the driveway.
But Al Nuaimi refused to come to the door when it was answered by a younger man, presumably a relative. A request for an interview or statement was declined.
He also did not respond when contacted by email through the Cambridge Education and Training Centre or Ima6ine.
Mohamed Al Zaabi did not respond to a request for a statement. Efforts to contact Khalid Al Zaabi, Ali Hasan Husain Al Hammadi and Humaid Al Nuaimi were unsuccessful.
Financial scrutiny
Angelika Hellweger, a lawyer who specialises in economic crime, said that setting up as a business reduces the scrutiny of financial transactions.
“If you open a bank account in a company’s name it is easier than to open it in the name of an individual,” said Ms Hellweger, legal director at London-based law firm Rahman Ravelli.
“Every company has to pass anti-money laundering checks in the UK, that’s completely clear, but a company won’t immediately arouse suspicion.
“Business activity is much less under scrutiny than if say an individual emigrates to the UK and thousands of pounds are flowing in and out of a bank account.”
Interconnected
A web of businesses like that at Crown House is a set-up familiar to Lorenzo Vidino, director of the programme on extremism at The George Washington University and an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood in the West. The way it operates in the UK and other European countries is to operate a matrix of companies coming and going and directors moving between them, he said.
“This is a general pattern for the way the Muslim Brotherhood operates. They set up a lot of companies engaged in all sorts of activities, which is very difficult to follow.
“One is created and then dissolved. That allows them to open bank accounts, which enables them to fund activities in a way that allows them two or three degrees of separation and so keep their hands clean.”
Similarly, former diplomat Sir John Jenkins said the interconnectedness between individuals is “absolutely” a pattern he recognises from his knowledge of the Muslim Brotherhood, which he said had a “complex” relationship with violence and terrorism.
In 2014, the then UK prime minister David Cameron asked Sir John, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia, to undertake a review into the Muslim Brotherhood. He worked with Charles Farr, director general of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism at the Home Office, on the report, of which only a summary of its findings was released to Parliament.
They found that the Muslim Brotherhood adopted a “secretive ‘cell’ structure” and “this clandestine, centralised and hierarchical structure persists to this day”.
He explained that studies into the historical internal structure of the Brotherhood have revealed that “it’s a very endogamous organisation”.
“They all came out of the same universities and they all also intermarry and that came about because they wanted to protect themselves from the security services, the police etc. It’s also a way of inspiring loyalty.”
The section of the report on the Muslim Brotherhood presence in the UK was written by Mr Farr, who reported “established public facing and apparently national organisations in the UK to promote their views” in the 1990s.
“None were openly identified with the Muslim Brotherhood and membership of the Muslim Brotherhood remained (and still remains) a secret,” the report said.
French fears
It is not just the UK that has sought to shackle the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. A landmark French report has shown Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to boost its influence in European institutions.
Through concealing its true beliefs and maintaining a facade of respectability, the movement has strengthened its presence in France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Austria. “Contrary to their strategy in the Middle East, where they took part in elections by forming political parties, the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe have favoured a strategy of influence … over the long term,” the report stated.
The report said the Islamist campaign was focusing on schools, mosques and local non-governmental organisations, with the aim of influencing rule-making at local and national levels, notably concerning secularism and gender equality.
The group's long-term plan is to “modify local or national rules,” says the report.
Slow reaction
For British former Labour MP Khaled Mahmood, a key problem when dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood has been the slow pace of locating the funding or organisations with which it is linked.
“Unfortunately, the authorities have never been able to catch up with the funding, some that’s been coming through from abroad, which they’ve never been able to deal with either,” he told The National.
“Where is the funding coming from? How is it used?”
Mr Mahmood claimed there's “now open recruitment going on into extreme organisations” which have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, with Gaza being used as a recruitment tool.
“The problem is that you’re getting an ever increasing circle of young Muslims in the UK, from predominantly South Asian backgrounds, who are getting into this.”
The UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism Jonathan Hall KC recently admitted there was a “genuine legitimate concern” regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, but dealing with it represented a challenge.
In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, he said that banning the Muslim Brotherhood would be difficult, as it would have to meet a “general criterion such as terrorism, or legal criteria that we have yet to invent – separatism, or hateful extremism, or subversiveness”.
But he warned: “There are very many difficulties in achieving an appropriately clear legal test, and the road to a legal definition of extremism is littered with wreckage.”
For Sir John Jenkins, the Muslim Brotherhood has become a movement which “relies upon the dissemination of an ideology rather than the dissemination of a set of organisational structures”, even though such structures do exist. “They exist in material terms, in the personal relationships between all these different people who know each other.”
Ultimately, to describe pinning down the Muslim Brotherhood, Sir John quotes the early 20th century British prime minister David Lloyd George’s description of Irish nationalist Eamon de Valera: “Like trying to pick up mercury with a fork.”
