Hand in Hand for Syria
Hand in Hand for Syria is the UK registered charity through which it is claimed that Dr Rola was working as a volunteer during an alleged Napalm attack on a school in the village of Orum Alkubra in Aleppo on 26 August 2013.[1] The charity was incorporated on 13 February 2012[2] and as of 31 August 2013 had failed to file any accounting information. Its web site was set up on a shared hosting server in the Netherlands on 1 March 2012.
Relationship With the Syrian Opposition
According to the UK charity commission, "an organisation cannot be a charity if it has a 'political purpose'."[3] As a UK charity, Hand in Hand for Syria is therefore explicitly prohibited from "furthering the interests of a particular political party" or from "securing or opposing any change in the law, whether in the UK or overseas".[3]
Logo
It is clear from a comparison of the charity logo and the flag of the Syrian National Opposition (right) that the charity aligns itself with the aims of the rebellion in the Syrian civil war.
Name
In its 29 July 2011 founding statement, Free Syrian Army leader Colonel Riad al-Asaad said:
... We announce the formation of the free Syrian army to work hand in hand with the people to achieve freedom and dignity to bring this regime down, protect the revolution and the country’s resources, and stand in the face of the irresponsible military machine that protects the regime.”[4]
Is this congruence of name and FSA objectives just coincidence?
References
- ↑ Hand in Hand for Syria - Home page
- ↑ Charity Commission - Statutory information on 'Hand-in-Hand-for-Syria' at 31 August 2013
- ↑ a b UK Charity Commission, What Makes a Charity? Annex B - Political Purposes
- ↑ FSA Founding Statement - Asharq al-Awsat web site, accessed 1 October 2013
