Anjem Choudary, a radical Islamist preacher with dual British and Pakistani nationality who had been freed from prison a few years ago has been charged with three terrorism-related offences to be produced in court in London on Monday. Choudary, 56, was charged by the Metropolitan Police on Sunday with membership of a proscribed (banned) organisation, addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organisation, and directing a terrorist organisation under different sections of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.
A Canadian national, 28-year-old Khaled Hussein, has also been arrested in a related counter-terrorism inquiry on charges of membership of a proscribed organisation. “On Monday, 17 July, 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 Met Police said on Monday.
After the extended questioning, both men were remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday. UK-born Choudary has been associated with different radical outfits, including the now-banned Islamist group Al Muhajiroun. He was released from London’s high-security Belmarsh prison back in 2018 where he was held after being convicted by the Old Bailey court in London in September 2016 for radical preaching and calling on Muslims to support the terrorist group ISIS.