Here is the text of IHRC’s reply to a query from the Metro. The Metro email is below our response.
Dear Luke
Thank you for your very odd email. Here is a revised response with links that thoroughly debunk the claims made in it.
For clarity, neither Mr. Shadjareh nor IHRC are linked to IRGC / Basij / the Iranian government or indeed Press TV.
Appearing on platforms does not make you a part of the organisers group, otherwise Mr. Shadjareh and indeed IHRC would also be aligned to and or belong to the BBC, RUSI, the British Council, Institute of Policy Studies, ITV, Channel 4, the European Parliament, the Home Office, the UN and any number of other organisations, governmental bodies or media that we have worked with, spoken at or collaborated with.
With regard to your citing William Shawcross, his report has been thoroughly debunked, including by Amnesty International, as Islamophobic and baseless.
Roger Macmillan, it appears, seems to be following in similar vein to Shawcross, if your reporting of his comments are accurate. Will you be making clear Macmillan was actually a part of Iran International, the Saudi backed propaganda channel? And likewise, that he was commissioned by Labour Friends of Israel to write a briefing? These are pertinent facts that go the heart of his credibility as an “expert”.
You would be wise to learn Alice’s lesson: just because Humpty Dumpty says a thing means a thing, it doesn’t automatically make it so.
This applies as much to what you are claiming about us as it does your comments about various Absocs and MSC. We are sure they can answer for themselves as an independent organisations. We simply note that the claims you make appear unevidenced and somewhat fanciful. They seem to rely on a culture of racist demonisation and indeed, if published will further contribute to the culture of racism, and Islamophobia.
Sadly, it seems your proposed article is less journalism than war propaganda on behalf of belligerent parties and their cheerleaders that chose to launch an illegal war. In this instance to demonise Muslims in the UK, to make the Iranian “threat” look immediate and imminent. We have been here before. It will be studied as an example of how a pliant media establishment misled the British public, in this instance in service of foreign powers, much as historians today examine media systems under the Nazis or Stalin, and the role they played in constructing targeted communities through false narratives.
IHRC will publish this response in full. This ensures there is an accurate public record should our comments be misquoted or omitted entirely.
Regards
Media
IHRC
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Dear IHRC Team
I am Luke, a reporter at Metro newspaper.
I am getting in touch to get your response to the below story we are planning to run about ABsocs, which the IHRC has collaborated with.
Please respond by midday on Thursday 21 May
There are fears that ABsocs are linked to alleged recruitment hubs and radicalising groups, linked to the Iranian Regime, operating in the UK.
ABsoc for Justice has collaborated on numerous occasions with the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
ABsocs for Justice was a supporter of their Al-Quds Day march and has collaborated in numerous posts with them. They also collaborated with Massoud Shadjareh, the chair of the IHRC.
As examples, see: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYe95SDIWvu/, https://www.ihrc.org.uk/al-quds-day-2026/, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVI0sMZiFXe/, https://www.instagram.com/p/DUG6WVFDJV0/?img_index=1&igsh=cWdkd2pveTRqbnl2.
In December 2025, they also posted on their story thanking IHRC for resources for a Palestine fundraiser.
IHRC’s Chair, Massoud Shadjareh, is strongly linked to the IRGC’s Basij militia and has addressed events it has hosted in Iran. See: https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/brains-behind-hmd-boycott-ally-iran-basij-thugs-awvuzzuw
He has allegedly spoken at numerous events in Iran organised by the Basij Resistance Force.
The IHRC provides Absocs with materials it distributes on its campuses, who are also active participants in its annual pro-regime Quds Day protests.
In his review of the Prevent counter-extremism programme, William Shawcross described the IHRC as an “Islamist group ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime” with a “history of extremist links and terrorist sympathies”.
It has been claimed that The IHRC should be viewed as a radicalising organisation which acts as a touchpoint for the Iranian regime to British campuses given the IRGC and Basij’s relationship with Shadjareh.
Roger Macmillan, a security expert, told Metro that The IHRC is undoubtedly linked to the regime.
He said of ABSocs more widley that they are part of Iranian soft influence, which grooms followers with extreme ideology – in what could be viewed as some form of recruitment.
Metro has also found evidence where Greenwich ABsoc posted an IRGC statement in one of the group chats following the death of Ayatollah Khamenei on March 1st. The statement talked about ‘martydom at the hands of the most wicked terrorists and executioners
Some ABSocs have already distanced themselves from the MSC and other ABSocs,including Durham University ABSoc, which has said the MSC and no other ABSoc represents their views.
ABSocs also work with Press TV.
Examples of these collaborations on ABSocs for Justice Instagram posts show a working relationship: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DW3lF-vArIy/, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSSXK5zDAAT/, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSCcpzXDaHH/
Press TV has been accused of being a front for recruiting assets in the UK: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/28/the-iranian-spy-recruitment-hub-operating-in-london/
It has been sanctioned by the EU, Australia, Canada and the US, all of which cited the forced confessions that Press TV airs of detainees, including journalists and activists.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in 2023 that as well as broadcasting “scores of forced confessions”, Press TV had been “used by Iranian intelligence services to recruit sensitive assets, including US persons”.
There are also allegations that at Marzieh Hashemi, a Press TV presenter based in Washington, was involved in the early stages of the recruitment of Monica Witt.
Jonathan Hackett, a former American intelligence operator and expert in Iran’s covert operations, said the posts were ‘positive indicators’ of recruitment activity taking place.
He claimed that Absocs would potential unwitting or witting recruits for the future by casting a wide net through the societies.
He said that most people would not be involved in this and even potential recruits would be unwitting about what was going on.
Please respond by midday on Thursday 21 May
Best wishes,
Luke
