British Islamic preacher accused of celebrating terrorists and radicalising followers sets up 'religious training camp' in Thailand

A London-born radical Shia preacher accused of celebrating terrorists has set up a physical and religious training camp in Thailand to teach ‘Islamic spiritual psychology’, the Daily Mail can reveal.Sayed Hussain Makke has allegedly mourned members of Hezbollah, the proscribed Lebanese terror organisation – including a British friend who died fighting for it – and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).The Brunel University graduate had his visa to visit Australia revoked last year after he allegedly extolled Hassan Nasrallah, a Hezbollah leader killed in an Israeli air strike, as one of the world’s ‘greatest freedom fighters’.Leading the organisation for three decades until his death at 64, Nasrallah was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives around the world, as he transformed Hezbollah into the political and military force it is today.The militia, banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK, US and other countries, played a crucial role in propping up Bashar al-Assad’s bloody regime in Syria, and it provides training and guidance to other Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen as well as Hamas in Gaza.Makke once shared a tribute to Mohamed Balbaaki, a British friend who died while fighting for Hezbollah. He is seen crouching next to a shrine of Balbaaki, who is wearing Hezbollah uniform, with the caption: 'I miss you forever.'Having previously run ‘Spiritual Warrior’ training camps in the Peak District in England, Makke is hosting a retreat in Thailand in December for men ‘who no longer know how to be men’.The six-day programme, running from December 1-6, is advertised as a ‘retreat in nature filled with workshops, training, reflection, and brotherhood’. Sayed Hussain Makke has allegedly mourned members of Hezbollah, the proscribed Lebanese terror organisation – including a British friend who died fighting for it – and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) The six-day programme, running from December 1-6, is advertised as a ‘retreat in nature filled with workshops, training, reflection, and brotherhood’ In a video on his Instagram advertising the course, a group of men can be seen sitting in a circle in a boxing ring while listening to a lectureIn a video on his Instagram advertising the course, a group of men can be seen sitting in a circle in a boxing ring while listening to a lecture.The caption states: ‘When you finally realise it isn’t about cutting off sin, it’s about loving God so much that your desire to sin no longer exists.’Among those speaking at the camp is Shia cleric Sheikh Salman Zaarour, who can be seen standing above a fire telling young men to 'reflect on our destinies' at a previous course.Alicia Kearns, a former chairman of the foreign affairs committee who has reported the cleric to counter-terrorism police multiple times, wrote to the Home Office in June to ask why Makke had not been arrested.'I previously wrote to you on April 24 to share a police report I submitted regarding Hussain Makke, highlighting his sustained public support for proscribed group Hezbollah, running of combat training camps for Shia men where radicalisation is alleged to have occurred, and relocation to an area of Southern Lebanon with a significant Hezbollah presence,' she wrote to now Security Minister Dan Jarvis.She received a response to her April letter stating that 'where evidence of potential offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 or the National Security Act 2023 is submitted, I am confident it will be assessed and acted upon appropriately'.Nevertheless, Makke returned to the UK and was not arrested, according to Kearns.'Following the recent string of attacks against the Jewish community, the Government repeatedly committed to doing everything in its power to combat rising antisemitism and support, both rhetorical and practical, for proscribed groups such as Hezbollah,' she continued. 'This promise appears hollow if individuals such as Makke, who openly espouse pro-Hezbollah views, are allowed to enter the UK unchallenged.''Why was Makke not arrested and questioned upon arrival at the airport, and since returning to the UK?' she wrote. It is understood that Makke, who attended Nasrallah’s funeral, praised the number of mourners present at the event in February 2025 as evidence that the resistance was ‘alive and well’, Sky News reported at the time.In an Instagram post in September 2025, around the one-year anniversary of Nasrallah’s death, Makke wrote: 'May my soul be removed from me before my tongue stops singing your praise and remembering you, a bulwark of truth and honour.' Material obtained by research and advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and collated by Kasra Aarabi shows that Makke trained under a senior Hezbollah figure at a seminary in Lebanon.In one Instagram post, he honoured the death of his seminary ‘dear teacher and leader’ Sheikh Ali Abu Raya - a senior Hezbollah leader - and celebrated his martyrdom.‘Our teacher Sheikh Ali Abu Raya has met his Lord as a martyr on the path to al-Quds,’ Makke wrote, following his death.Iranian state media has confirmed that Raya was a senior Hezbollah leader and was killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to research by UANI.Following the death of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel that saw 1,200 people murdered, Makke posted a photograph on Instagram of the terror chief’s final moments, captioning the post: ‘You cannot kill an idea.’Following the US drone strike on IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Makke posted a photo of himself saluting in front of a mosque and urged his followers to 'bathe in the pain and cry all day and all night'. Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at UANI, told the Daily Mail: 'The context is key here: Hezbollah is a violent Islamist extremist terror group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. 'It has previously been implicated in terrorist plots on British soil. It is deeply concerning that this British cleric has consistently promoted Hezbollah’s ideology, mourned the death of its terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah - and even travelled to Lebanon to attend Nasrallah’s Hezbollah-organised funeral. 'It is perhaps even more concerning that this cleric is holding so-called “warrior camps” for young British men. This cleric has now reportedly left the UK and relocated his “warrior camp” to Thailand, raising further questions about these activities.' Screenshots of two videos posted by Sayed Hussain Makke on Instagram of Nasrallah’s funeral Following the death of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of Hamas’ October 7 massacre that saw 1,200 murdered, Makke posted a photograph on Instagram of the terror chief’s final moments, captioning the post: ‘You cannot kill an idea.’ Makke once shared a tribute to a dead Hezbollah soldier, Mohamed Balbaaki, crouching next to a shrine of him and writing the caption: 'I miss you forever.' In an Instagram post in September 2025, around the one-year anniversary of Nasrallah’s death, Makke wrote: 'May my soul be removed from me before my tongue stops singing your praise and remembering you, a bulwark of truth and honour.'Luke Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham, told the Daily Mail: ‘It is high time that action was taken against this preacher, who appears to support Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation, and his “training camps”.’David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, said: ‘Sayed Hussain Makke is a disturbing preacher who has seemingly voiced support for a terrorist group and the Iranian regime which the security services have warned are behind at least 20 terrorist plots on UK soil in recent years. 'This strikes me as intolerable and should be looked at by counter-terrorism police.'Last year, the preacher ran an Islamic and physical training camp for young British men from July 30 to August 3 called the ‘Spiritual Warrior Project’ at Darwin Lake in Derbyshire.He held a similar retreat from June 5 to June 9 this year, offering 'Olympic-level wrestling' alongside religious education by a cleric.Applicants to the programme, focused on ‘God-centric masculinity’ and ‘man psychology’, are asked about how much they value discipline and brotherhood before applying.Promotional videos show young men boxing, tackling each other and completing training exercises - or listening to clerics and praying.Since 2008, the military wing of Hezbollah has been proscribed in the UK under counter-terrorism laws.In 2019, its political wing was banned too due to the organisation’s continual attempts to ‘destabilise the fragile situation in the Middle East’, the government said.Supporting a proscribed group is a criminal offence and carries a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.Makke’s lawyers said he was not a member of, and had not provided support, to any proscribed organisation.Explaining the origin of the ‘Spiritual Warrior’ movement, Makke writes on his website: ‘Men no longer know how to be men, and women no longer know how to be women.‘It is said that man – in his hypocrisy – rebelled against God, and so woman rebelled against man, leaving the world in its current state of chaos.‘Spiritual Warrior was designed as an answer to your chaos. It speaks to the disorderly voice within each of us which, when not understood, incarcerates our yearning for a deeper life.‘The SW Project is the culmination of tenets acquired over a decade of travelling in the pursuit of knowledge, studied under some of the world’s greatest teachers, now being offered to you.’Makke also offers weekly one-to-one sessions on his six-week 'King Programme' which is 'based on the masculine archetypes - king, warrior, magician, lover'.Throughout the course, the cleric claims to be able to cure problems related to three areas of a client’s life: the religious and physical ‘self’, work and studies, and relationships, including connections with parents, siblings, friends, colleagues, and women.One of the courses on his website is geared towards combating pornography addiction, called ‘War on Porn’.Spiritual Warrior's website says it is not accepting new applications for the ‘King Programme’ as the waiting list is so long.Makke also sells products including a pill to 'boost libido' for those embarking on the 'spiritual warrior path'. Promotional material for the spiritual warrior camp in the Peak District shows Makke preaching to young menOther clips for the British camp show the young men tackling each other in intense training exercises One of the applicants pins down another during a training exercise at the spiritual warrior camp They are also seen running through fields. The course combines training with religious educationDanny Citrinowicz is a senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programmes. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: 'The reported activities of British cleric Sayed Hussain Makke, including the organisation of a training camp in Thailand, deserve particular attention.'He continued: ‘For the United Kingdom, the implications are particularly significant. The activities of individuals promoting Hezbollah-aligned figures and organising international training camps should be carefully scrutinised, including their funding, and foreign connections.‘British authorities should use the legal and regulatory tools available to them where evidence justifies intervention.’A Counter Terrorism Policing London spokesperson said: 'All reports are reviewed and, if it is assessed that further police action is required, then it will get passed to the relevant police force, or counter terrorism unit to carry this out.'The Spiritual Warrior Project told the Daily Mail: 'The intelligent and sophisticated young men who attend Spiritual Warrior learn to develop God-centric masculinity through a holistic curriculum that combines physical training, business coaching and Islamic scholarship, strengthening brotherhood, faith and resilience.'Makke told the Daily Mail: 'I have always acted in accordance with UK terrorism law, and any allegation to the contrary is defamatory, ludicrous and racist. 'British counter-terrorism police should be commended for ignoring the malign Zionist influence-peddlers calling for my arrest.'