The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into an Islamic charity after a video that “could suggest support for Hamas” was posted on its Facebook account.

The investigation will look at how the video was posted on Cardiff based Al-Manar Centre Trust’s social media account and to ensure the charity now has robust social media protocols in place.

The video, which was not created by the charity, was posted on the charity’s Facebook account in November last year.

After the regulator contacted the charity, the video was removed, and trustees have said that their social media protocols have been improved.

“The inquiry will examine the trustees’ administration, management, and governance of the charity,” said the Charity Commission, which launched the inquiry at the end of February.

“As part of inquiry’s scope, the regulator will fully investigate the events leading to the posting of the video.

“The regulator will also be seeking assurances that improvements made to the charity’s social media protocols are being implemented and that these are sufficiently robust to prevent this from happening again. This includes a review to confirm that there is no other inappropriate material on any platform used by the charity.”

It adds that trustees are expected “to do all in their power to protect their charities from risk of misuse, which includes implementing procedures to prevent the promotion of views which could be considered harmful or unlawful”.

At the regulator’s annual public meeting last November its chair Orlando Fraser said action will be taken against charities that “become forums of hate speech or unlawful extremism”.

“The Commission will always deal robustly with those who intentionally or recklessly abuse their charities, and we will not hesitate to take action in accordance with the law to protect the reputation of the sector as a whole,” he added.

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