British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, who was arrested in London last week, has been charged with three terrorism offenses, according to police. The 56-year-old Choudary is facing charges of membership of a proscribed organization, directing a terrorist organization, and addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organization. He is set to appear in court in London on Monday.
Choudary, once known as Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, was previously imprisoned in 2016 for promoting support for Islamic State. He was released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence. Choudary was the former leader of the now-banned organization al-Muhajiroun and gained notoriety for praising the individuals responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the United States. He even expressed his desire to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.
Throughout the years, Choudary’s followers have been linked to various plots around the world. Alongside Choudary’s arrest, a 28-year-old Canadian man named Khaled Hussein was also charged with membership of a proscribed organization after being apprehended at Heathrow Airport upon his arrival.
