Shaykh Abdul Hadi al Arwani, who was known for his opposition to the Assad regime, was found dead in his car on Tuesday. Here is everything BuzzFeed News has learnt so far.
On Tuesday morning in Greenhill, Wembley, the Syrian born imam Abdul Hadi al Arwani was found dead in his car.
Arwani was born in the Syrian district of Hama, but had spent nearly two decades living in West London, where he lived with his wife and six children.
Arwani was found by police in a black Volkswagen Passat, with three gunshot wounds in his chest. While the police did not confirm the identity of the victim, he was identified to BuzzFeed News by several of his former students.
According to reports in the Telegraph , Arwani had been officially granted asylum in the UK the day before, and had been shopping on the morning of his killing.
The report adds that the day before, Arwani may have been tricked into a "rendezvous" with his killers, after a "mystery man" had called him under the guise of wanting a quotation for a building project.
When Arwani arrived at the house with his teenage son, the suspected killers claimed to have forgotten the keys, and rearranged the meeting for the following day.
While the identity of the suspects is unknown, police have taken a description from Arwani's son.
Jihad Kader/ Facebook
Arwani was well known for his criticism of the Assad government in Syria.
Arwani had given several public lectures describing the brutality of the Assad regime under both Bashar al Assad and his father, Hafez.
In a lecture to the University of Hertfordshire Islamic Society (above), Arwani describes the 1982 Hama massacre, where around 10,000 people died. He also describes the repression of activists under the regime, making reference to the threats made on his life, allegedly by groups linked to the Syrian regime.
Arwani had also attended a number of anti-Assad demonstrations in London, including one outside the Syrian embassy in London in March 2012.
While many of Arwani's supporters believe that the gunman is linked to the Assad regime, others have suggested that Arwani was not significant enough to have been a target of assassination.
One of Arwani's friends, who did not wish to be named, told BuzzFeed News: "He was against Assad, like many, many Syrians, but I don't think the regime would have gone to such lengths to target him."
He added: "He was not giving money to rebels, he didn't support ISIS, Jahbat al Nusra, or other big rebel groups, so I don't think he would have been a priority, no."
The source, a former student of Arwani's who wanted to identify himself as Mohammed, said that Arwani had "denounced ISIS long before any of the media did," but that he was in contact with members of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (ETILAF), a loose coalition of "moderate" rebel groups which include the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
While BuzzFeed News could not confirm which rebel factions Arwani was in contact with, his Facebook account does not suggest he supported any particular group in Syria.
Additionally, while Arwani's views on the various militia groups is unknown, there is some evidence to suggest he was supportive of conservative sunni factions. In a speech given to Human Aid UK, Arwani says:
Syria … is a country of eighty percent of Muslim Sunnis. Forgive to say 'Sunnis'. We have to use it because now lots of people are playing around with the definition of Muslims.
Arwani was the imam of the An Noor Cultural and Community centre in Acton, West London.
Arwani was the imam of An Noor between 2005 and 2011, having previously been an Islamic scholar specialising in Islamic law. While little is known about Arwani's time at the centre, a number of the mosque's antendees, who wished to remain anonymous, told BuzzFeed News that he was "one of the founding figures" of the centre.
Another worshipper said that he "wanted to make a masjid that was open to everyone, regardless of their race or background."
While the centre's congregation remains mixed, the majority of worshippers come from Somali and West African backgrounds. Zakaria Ahmed, a local business owner who used to worship at An Noor, told BuzzFeed News that this was a result of a change in leadership at the Masjid.
"When I used to go, the community was a lot more mixed," he said.
"There were many more Arabs and Pakistanis than there are now. I think that when Arwani left the Masjid, all the Arabs went with him – now it's mainly Somalis and Jamaicans that attend."
Nour Bakr/ Twitter
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