Islamic foundation Rohamma said on Wednesday it is shocked by the decision to withdraw visas for three imams due to address a fund-raising event on March 8.

Foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders cancelled the visas on Tuesday citing ‘new information from the counter-terrorism unit NCTV’.

‘Normal procedures’ had been followed when the visas were granted and the three men ‘were not flagged up in databases’, Koenders is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf.

He did not say what the new information is and which imams have been banned from coming to the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports.

MPs had asked the minister to explain why several imams were given visas to attend what the Telegraaf dubbed a ‘jihad gala’ in Rijswijk.

The aim of the event is to raise money for various charities involving orphans, the handicapped and homeless all over the world.