Anjem Choudary to be “strictly controlled” after release

Anjem Choudary. Editorial credit: jan kranendonk / Shutterstock.com

Anjem Choudary will be subject to strict police controls after he leaves prison.

The 51-year-old, who was jailed for five-and-a-half years for inviting support for ISIS, is expected to be released tomorrow.

Media reports indicate that the police have prepared a list of up to 20 measures to control the east London preacher.

The government’s asset freezing team confirmed Choudary had been listed on a global record of known terrorists. The international list, overseen by the United Nations Security Council, is designed to prevent targets spending money on their causes.

The asset freezing order means Choudary will be subject to extremely strict financial controls which typically mean that any attempt to open a bank account or move money will alert the authorities.

The BBC reported that Choudary will stay in a probation hostel for up to the first six months of his licence, which continues until July 2021.

He may also be subject to licence conditions including:

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  • A ban from preaching at or attending certain mosques
  • He will only be allowed to associate with people who have been approved by the authorities
  • He will be allowed one phone and is banned from using an internet-enabled device without permission
  • Use of the internet will be supervised
  • He will not be able to leave the UK without permission from his probation officer

Choudary is due for automatic release after serving half his sentence.

In 2016 he was convicted at the Old Bailey after supporting ISIS in an oath of allegiance published online.

The judge, who described Choudary as calculating and dangerous, passed the same sentence on his follower Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33.

The trial heard the pair also used speeches to urge support for ISIS after it declared a Caliphate in the summer of 2014.

Counter-terrorism chiefs blamed the preacher and the proscribed organisations which he helped to run, such as al-Muhajiroun, for radicalising young men and women including the killers of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.

But they said they had been unable to act for many years as he had stayed “just within the law”.

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