Radical UK Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary charged with three terrorist offenses

Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary has been charged with three terrorism offenses after being arrested in London last week.

British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been charged with three terrorism offenses after being arrested in London last week, police said on Monday.

Choudary, 56, has been charged with membership of a proscribed organization, directing a terrorist organization, and addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organization, police said. He will appear in court in London on Monday.

Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary was imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Islamic State before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

Choudary, former head of the now-banned organization al-Muhajiroun, drew attention for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.

His followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world.

Demonstrator Anjem Choudary, protests in support of Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who is appealing against his extradition to the US, outside the High Court in London October 5, 2012. (credit: REUTERS/LUKE MACGREGOR)

Others charged as well

A 28-year-old Canadian man, Khaled Hussein, has also been charged with membership of a proscribed organization after being arrested on the same day as Choudary when he arrived on a flight at Heathrow Airport, police said.