London, UK
British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been charged with three terrorism offences, London's Metropolitan police released a statement on Monday.
56-year-old Choudary has been charged with membership of a banned organisation, leading a terrorist organisation and addressing meetings to encourage backing for an illegal organisation, said the police. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Choudary, who was once Britain's most high-profile preacher, was sentenced in the year 2016 for pressing support for Islamic State before being released in the year 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.
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The former head of the now-banned militant outfit, al-Muhajiroun, grabbed eyeballs for appreciating the men responsible for executing the 9/11 attacks in the United States and saying that he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.
His supporters have been associated with numerous plots across the globe.
A 28-year-old Canadian, Khaled Hussein, has also been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation.
Counter-terror officers "investigating alleged membership of a proscribed organisation" arrested both men last Monday, the Met added.
Officers arrested Choudary in east London and detained Hussein at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on a flight.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring presided over the Westminster Magistrates' Court hearing and remanded both men in custody to appear at the Old Bailey court in London on August 4.
“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 in a statement earlier.
“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,” the statement added.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court on Monday that Choudary spoke to small groups online from June 2022 until his arrest, and gave lectures on the establishment of an Islamic State in Britain.
As per reports, co-accused Hussein effectively worked for Choudary in Canada.
“The charges relate to the proscribed organisation Al Muhajiroun, also known as the Islamic Thinkers Society. Criminal proceedings against Mr Choudary and Mr Hussein are now active and they each have the right to a fair trial,” said Nick Price, from the CPS Counter Terrorism Division.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings. The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a criminal court to consider,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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