The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) has confirmed it will end its funding of a group linked to Islamic State terrorist Mohammed Emwazi.
The trust’s decision comes after the Charity Commission monitored its payments to Cage.
The JC revealed last week that the Community Security Trust had alerted JRCT to antisemitic material on Cage’s website in July 2013. At that time the JRCT had given Cage more than £300,000.
Cage has been heavily scrutinised after details of its connections with Emwazi came to light when he was uncovered as “Jihadi John”.
In a statement, JRCT said it had funded Cage “to promote and protect human rights”.
It went on to say: “In December 2013, the Charity Commission opened an operational compliance case in respect of this funding relationship. We have co-operated fully with the Commission’s enquiries over an extended period.
“Our last payment to Cage was in January 2014. In the last week, we have been put under intense regulatory pressure to rule out any future funding of Cage regardless of any future changing circumstances.
“In the light of regulatory pressure, and to protect the interests of all our grantees and the other work of the trust, we have decided to publicly confirm that we will not fund Cage either now or in the future.”
The Charity Commission said the JRCT had confirmed it had granted Cage £305,000 between 2007 and last year, eventually paying £271,250.
The Commission also confirmed that last Monday it had asked JRCT – and another charity being monitored for its links to Cage – to give “unequivocal assurances” that there would be no further funding.
A report on the case will be published by the Commission.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.