President of the Islamic Commission of Spain arrested and released on bail

The president of the Islamic Commission of Spain (the highest official body of Islam on national territory), the Syrian doctor Ayman Adlbi, was arrested early this morning by agents of the National Police's General Information Commissariat in connection with jihadist activities, to be released on bail later, according to police sources. 

The police operation is still open and more arrests have been made, according to ABC. Adlbi was allegedly linked to the Islamist terrorist financing scheme that in 2019 was included in Operation Wamor, which dismantled a network around a Madrid-based family that used businesses to move money to conflict zones such as Syria to allegedly support armed actions by allegedly radical groups.

In July 2020, 74-year-old Adlbi, a doctor by profession and also Syrian by birth, but settled in Spain since the 1970s, was elected president of the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE) after the death of his predecessor, Riay Tatari. He had also been elected days earlier to head the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain (UCIDE), one of the most influential associations among the Muslim faithful and one of the most influential in the CIE.

After his arrest, Adlbi was provisionally released, as confirmed by El Confidencial. As part of the operation carried out by the National Police's General Information Office, those investigated in these proceedings were charged with the crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, collaboration with a terrorist organisation, financing terrorism, money laundering, tax fraud, forgery of documents and encouraging illegal immigration.

The CIE is the main mediating body before the Government and the Autonomous Communities in all matters related to the Muslim religion, from the management of mosques to the teaching of Islam in schools, including social protection programmes related to immigrants from countries where this religious belief is a majority. It also has an international dimension, because of the importance that some Muslim countries attach to these bodies due to their ability to influence their own population abroad.