In an article following the alleged airline terror plot last year (21 August 2006), we reported, wrongly, that Abdul Rauf had been arrested by Pakistani police as he headed to Islamabad airport.

He was not so arrested. Mr Rauf assures us, and we fully accept, that he has never been complicit in any terrorist activity.

We also accept that Mr Rauf has never been questioned or arrested in relation to any such matters, whether in the United Kingdom, Pakistan or anywhere else.

In our 21 August article, and in a further article of 25 August, we also stated that there was an investigation into a charity called Crescent Relief, of which we said Mr Abdul Rauf was the founder.

Those articles may have been understood to suggest, wrongly, that Mr Rauf was suspected of using the charity as a front to fund terrorist activities.

In fact, Mr Rauf is not and has not been under any such suspicion, and although he was at one time a director of Crescent Relief Limited, he resigned in 2001.

We apologise to Mr Rauf for any distress and embarrassment caused.