The key facts
- Al Masirah TV will be struck off the Companies House register on 10 November 2026
- The company had been registered since 2014 but conducted no broadcasting and received no income
- Its directors included network head Ammar Al Hamzy and former director Ebrahim Al Dulaimi, the Houthi envoy to Iran
The company will be dissolved within days
The London-based company Al Masirah TV, linked to Yemen's Houthis, is to be struck off the UK's official register of companies: an entry at Companies House shows it will be dissolved on 10 November. This was reported by The National, whose investigation in January drew attention to the station's presence in the country. To prevent the dissolution, the company would need a court order.
How the company existed in the UK
Al Masirah TV had been registered as a business at Companies House since 2014, despite carrying out no broadcasting and receiving no income. It filed returns regularly until its presence was exposed in January this year. On 25 August the company received a warning that it had two months to file its annual accounts and confirm the accuracy of its public data, including the names of its directors. It did not do so.
Links to the Houthi leadership and Iran
The company used a café's postal address to maintain its presence in London. Among its directors is listed Ammar Al Hamzy, the general director of the parent station, which broadcasts in Yemen but is based in Beirut. A former director is Ebrahim Al Dulaimi — the Houthi envoy to Iran and a member of the Ansar Allah political council. The station is the mouthpiece of the Houthis, who have controlled northern Yemen, with a population of about 25 million, since 2015, and is linked to the Islamic Radio and Television Union — the media arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which produces a significant share of the television channels and other media of Iran's proxies, including Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah and Hamas.
Reaction and concerns
The exact purpose of Al Masirah TV's registration in the UK is unknown, but its presence has raised concerns about alleged illicit financing, visa fraud and intelligence-gathering on political opponents. Shadow home secretary Alicia Kearns raised the company's case in the House of Commons and told The National that the company's removal from the register The government agreed to examine the presence of Al Masirah TV after the Conservative MP Bob Blackman expressed concerns in the House of Commons that it might be violating rules against terrorist financing or being used as a cover for obtaining visas. Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Jonathan Hackett previously told The National that such a cover makes it easier to obtain a visa at an immigration interview, as it provides a plausible explanation for being in the country.
