Cleric charged for inviting IS support

Anjem Choudary, Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, well-known globally for praising the men responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States, was charged yesterday with inviting support for Islamic State.

Choudary, 48, was accused of using lectures which were published online for encouraging support for the banned organisation, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

“Following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, we have authorised charges against Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman,” said Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service.

“It is alleged that Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman invited support for (IS) in individual lectures which were subsequently published online.”

The two men appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London