article_snippet.sent: Earlier this week sources close to the Mr Arwani said they feared the Mr Arwani may have been killed by supporters of the Syrian president Bashar-al-Assad - of whom the late imam was a fierce critic.
article_snippet.sent: Describing the Mr Arwani father as 'the most peaceful man you could meet,' one of his father six children, Murhaf, said his father was 'actively involved in the fight against extremism'. '
article_snippet.sent: his father spoke up and out against the crime of terror and oppression wherever his father found it,' his father said in a statement.
article_snippet.sent: Later his father 23-year-old daughter, Elham Arwani, said while his father was openly 'against Assad', her did not think that was the reason behind his father killing.
article_snippet.sent: the Mr Arwani's family said Mr Arwani's family did not believe his father death was connected to his father opposition of the Assad regime.
article_snippet.sent: But friends and neighbours claimed critics of the Assad regime had been targeted in the area, with some residents who displayed green flags, a sign of opposition to the Government, having some residents who displayed green flags, a sign of opposition to the Syrian government tyres slashed.
article_snippet.sent: Mr Arwani grew up in Hama, the site of a notorious 1982 massacre where up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the Syrian Army under the orders of Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father.
article_snippet.sent: Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father fled the Caribbean island as a 16-year-old, taking refuge in the UK while Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father parents faced routine questioning of Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father whereabouts for years.
article_snippet.sent: One of the mourners who gathered in Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father memory at Nadi Park Royal in Willesden Junction, north west London, said Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father had returned to Syria in recent years to dissuade fighters from aligning fighters with the Government.