A radical Islamist preacher, Anjem Choudary was charged with three offences under UK’s terrorism act, the Metropolitan Police said on Monday, 24 July. He has been charged under different sections of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000. The charges include membership of a proscribed organisation, addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organisation, and directing a terrorist organisation.
He was arrested in London last week and has been in police custody since then. He will be produced before a court in London, late on 24 July. He holds dual nationality of Britain and Pakistan.
Apart from UK-born Choudary, the Metropolitan Police also arrested a Canadian man, Khaled Hussein (28). He has been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation.
The police said, “On Monday, 17 July (a week ago), Met counter-terrorism detectives investigating alleged membership of a proscribed organisation arrested a 56-year-old man in east London and a 28-year-old Canadian national at Heathrow Airport, after he arrived on a flight.”
The statement added that they were held under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and detectives were granted warrants of further detention allowing them to detain the men until Monday, 24 July.
According to a report in the Guardian, 56-year-old, Anjem Choudary who hails from east London, was charged on Sunday with three offences. These include –
- Membership of a proscribed organisation — violation of section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
- addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organisation — violation of sections 12(3) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
- directing a terrorist organisation — violation of section 56 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
British Pakistani, Choudary was once a high-profile Islamist preacher in Britain. However, it was found that he has been associated with several radical outfits. He was the former head of the now-banned Islamist organisation al-Muhajiroun.
The extremist Islamist preacher was convicted by the Old Bailey court in London in September 2016 for preaching radical ideology and calling Muslims to support the terrorist organisation, Islamic State.
He was released from London’s high-security Belmarsh prison in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence. In the past, he has been spewing venom against Hindus on multiple occasions and his name cropped up during last year’s violence in Leicester city. In several of the post on his website, Anjem has been spreading vicious propaganda against Hindus and called upon them to convert to Islam. He claimed that it is the “only way” of living.
Additionally, he had once praised the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and said that he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.
Further, his followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world.
