The Conservative Party has cancelled a joint Acevo and Muslim Charities Forum event at its conference at the last minute, without telling the speakers, following a critical Daily Telegraph article.

The event, due to run tomorrow, was cancelled on Saturday after the party was contacted by The Telegraph with allegations that some of the speakers had links to terrorism.

The Telegraph later published an article with the headline Terror-link charity was due to host joint official reception with Tory Party.

The event was to be jointly hosted by Acevo, the charity chief executives body, and the MCF, the infrastructure body for the Muslim charities sector. The two charities said they were not officially informed of the cancellation and found out via the Telegraph website.

The Telegraph objected to the inclusion of Othman Moqbel, chief executive of Human Appeal International, which it described as “Hamas-linked”.

Human Appeal is a registered charity and Moqbel has been its chief executive since 2010. He is also a trustee and treasurer of MCF.

Moqbel told Civil Society News that the allegations in the Telegraph were untrue and that his charity was considering defamation action.

He said both Human Appeal and MCF have worked closely with the Charity Commission and jointly present workshops with the regulator.

He said similar allegations to those in The Telegraph had appeared in the Jewish Chronicle three years ago and had been the subject of successful legal action.

"This isn't right," he said. "The Conservative Party shouldn't have done something like this. They took the media's word about us.

"The idea of this whole arrangement was to bring Muslims and non-Muslims together to speak about British values. Instead they ban people.

"One of the most fundamental of British values in the right to freedom of speech, and they have taken that away."

In a statement Acevo said: "The move is being seen as a direct attack on free speech and further evidence of the reactionary instinct to demonise rather than engage with the Muslim community."

Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, said: “The decision by Conservative Party organisers to cancel an important debate on the role of Muslim charities in our country is astonishing.

“To shut the doors of the nation’s governing party to this discussion is a deeply disturbing development. It alienates rather than involves.

“In the fight against terrorism to ignore any engagement is to fight with one hand tied behind the back. We need to support Muslim charities’ role in community leadership against extremism. Not reject them.

“Indeed the speakers scheduled for this event are figures of national consequence.

“Do the inquiries of one journalist lead to a policy of panic that leads to the cancellation of debate without reference to any of the parties concerned?”

He told Civil Society News that Acevo is now looking for another venue so it can hold the event tomorrow evening as planned. He said: “We are determined to hold the event on principle.”

Bubb said: “We held a similar event at the Labour conference and it was really well attended with a robust debate. To actually ban it here is sending a funny message about we tackle extremism in society – they need to engage with the leadership of the Muslim charity sector.”

The MCF rebutted the allegation that Moqbel, or his organisation has links with terrorists.

In a statement Omayma El-Ella, operations manager, said: “Whoever took the decision to cancel this fringe meeting without consulting its organisers has reflected very poorly on the Conservative Party. There needs to be a space for Muslim opinion to be heard and for its institutions to continue make a positive contribution to British society.

“We sincerely hope that this ill-judged decision will be reversed to enable fair-minded conference delegates to find out more about the Muslim charity sector and make up their own minds.”

El-Ella also objected to The Telegraph allegations that MCF members are members of the Union of Good, which was set up to fund organisations belonging to Hamas and has been designated a terrorist organisation by the US State Department.

 “All MCF members are registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, and by default abide by charity law as well as by rules, practices and processes expected of UK registered charities," he said. "They are purely humanitarian organisations, dedicated to alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development around the world.”

The Tories took the decision to cancel the event, but did not ban any of the delegates. The event would have taken place inside the secure conference zone, meaning that all those attending would have been independently security checked by the police, and any terrorist links should already have been flagged up.

At last week’s Labour Party Conference Acevo and MCF hosted a similar event.

Jehangir Malik, director at Islamic Relief, said that the current climate meant that his organisation would not be so successful if it was started today.

Civil Society News contacted the Conservative Party for comment but the party has not yet made any response.