Britain’s Most Notorious ‘Hate Preacher’ Anjem Choudary Arrested on Suspected Terror Offence

Released from his prison sentence for supporting the Islamic State in 2018 and under tough legal controls preventing him from associating with suspected terrorists and from preaching until 2021, the infamous radical who calls for hardline Sharia for Britain has been arrested again.

Police investigating suspected terror offences arrested notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary in a dawn raid at his East London home on Monday morning. A second man, who is a Canadian citizen, was arrested at Heathrow Airport as he arrived on a flight from Canada later that day.

A police statement said both were arrested “on suspicion of membership of a proscribed organisation” and are being held under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Per the government’s own summary of that law, “police officers have the power to arrest persons suspected of terrorism-related offences without a warrant. These arrest powers also allow the extended detention of persons beyond the maximum 4 days available under standard arrest powers, to a maximum of 14 days”.

Anjem Choudary, once a regular figure appearing in British media and well-known for his extremist Islamist views and calls for Sharia law to be enforced in the United Kingdom, was convicted in 2016 for urging Muslims to support the Islamic State in videos published online. Although he was sentenced to five and a half years, he was released less than halfway through his sentence.

As reported at the time, the short sentence was blamed on “lack of evidence” but the government said at the time of his 2018 release that he would be watched “like a hawk” by the security services to prevent his “deeply pernicious, destabilising influence” from spreading in the country again. At the time of his release, he was subjected to a wide range of restrictions including orders preventing him from speaking in public, restricted his internet and phone usage, and limited his personal contact with suspected extremists. As noted, these were said to be some of the most strict release conditions ever imposed on a prisoner in British legal history.

Choudary was even ordered to attend deradicalisation lessons, but as previous experience has shown, these can have limited impact. The ban on Choudary speaking in public was lifted in 2021.