Ibrahim Hewitt

Ibrahim Hewitt is chairman of the board of trustees of Interpal and a senior editor at Middle East Monitor. He is a Muslim activist from Leicester, U.K. who is often alleged to be an Islamist extremist in the British press. Hewitt is a media and education consultant and has been the chairman of the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal) since 1997.

Hewitt is also a school inspector and head of the Al-Aqsa School in Leicester. He received an honorary doctorate from the Islamic University in Gaza for his material support for both the university and the Palestinian people. He is also a trustee of the International Board of Educational Research and Resources (IBERR), founded by Yusuf Islam (aka, Cat Stevens), which distributes Islamic educational material around the world. Hewitt was also the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain from 2004-2006, a U.K. consortium dominated by the Pakistani Islamist group, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Hewitt has been praised by Jeremy Corbyn, who 2 years later became leader of the Labour Party (UK). He spoke publicly at an event in 2013: "Over a very long period of time I’ve got to know Ibrahim Hewitt, the chair, extremely well. I consider him to be a very good friend and I think he’s done a fantastic job in leading and guiding Interpal which has done such great practical work."

Ibrahim Hewitt was born Brian Hewitt. In the 1970s he was a musician who featured regularly on the British club and orchestra scene playing the tuba and the trombone, among other brass instruments. He eventually obtained a position in a British Army band. He also had the opportunity to play with the British musician Sting in the Newcastle Big Band.

While touring the club scene in the U.K. Hewitt became an alcoholic as a result of regularly performing in bars and being around musicians. Recalling this moment in his life he wrote, ""I lost days because of alcohol. When you wake up after a night out, it is terrible. Looking back, it is shameful".

In 1979, while proclaiming to be an agnostic, he met a group of Muslims from South Africa. Soon afterwards, Hewitt travelled to South Africa to visit them in the Indian township of Azaadville. While in South Africa, Hewitt discovered the horrors of Apartheid first hand. He was refused service in restaurants because he was accompanied by "non-whites", and discovered that there were racially segregated churches.

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