Secrets of Suite 702: Home of Muslim Brotherhood's sanctioned London network

Drivers on the North Circular Road orbiting London will spot the imposing arch of Wembley Stadium but may not see Crown House, the shabby and forlorn office block nearby.

Step out of the lift on the seventh floor of the monochrome building, having passed along a dimly-lit corridor, and you come to Suite 702, where a brass plate screwed to the door is the only marker.

Yet this spot is a contender for London's most sanctioned location. Last week, the latest person with links to the office address to be placed under sanctions was revealed. Zaher Birawi is alleged by the US Treasury to be a senior official and founding member of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), an entity that was also sanctioned.

When The National visited Crown House, there appeared to be little sign of any activity. A woman who worked in the business next door could not recall having seen anyone come and go or detected the presence of anyone in the office.

No company logos or branding give a hint to what lies on the other side of the locked door, which is shut against prying eyes and shows no sign of life.

Yet it is home to a matrix of individuals and companies – some active, others dormant or dissolved – placed under sanctions by the US and other countries for links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

That Crown House could be an alleged location of the Muslim Brotherhood is a product of how the organisation has grown and spread over decades. The organisation's playbook is a swirl of corporate registrations and interlocking directorships, not least at this place.

Mr Birawi is also a director and owner of Asira Media and Public Relations, whose office address is Suite 702. He is also a trustee of the Education Aid for Palestinians, which is also registered at the same address.

The PCPA is a main organiser of recent flotillas to Gaza that have included the Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.

But the US Treasury claims that the PCPA acts “clandestinely” on behalf of Hamas and is a “front organisation” for the Palestinian group, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK, and “operates according with Hamas directives”.

A statement from the US Treasury in January alleges “strategic and tactical aspects of the PCPA’s activity are controlled by Hamas through the placement of key Hamas-linked figures in major positions throughout the organisation”, including another person linked to Crown House, Majid Al Zeer.

Mr Al Zeer served as the chairman and president of the PCPA and is senior Hamas figure in Europe, according to the US.

The dual UK and Jordanian national, who was born in Bethlehem and moved to the UK in 1992, founded the Palestinian Return Centre in 1996.