Pakistani-origin radical preacher, who was freed from UK jail returns home

A Pakistani-origin radical Islamist preacher, who was freed from a UK jail last year and lodged in a bail hostel under strict conditions after serving a sentence for inviting support for the Islamic State, has now returned to his family home in London. Anjem Choudary was released under very strict licence conditions from the high-security Belmarsh prison in south London last October after serving less than half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence for reported "good behaviour".

As part of the strict conditions of his early release, the 51-year-old is required to carry on wearing an electronic tag on his ankle but he no longer needs to be based at the monitored probation hostel. The UK security sources quoted by The Daily Telegraph have warned that the extremist group associated with Choudary, Al Muhajiroun, still poses a terror threat.

"The group remains a threat to national security but the disruptions have been very effective," the source is quoted as saying. "Choudary is now out and back at home. He is somebody who preferred to stay in the comfort of his home in London and encourage others to go and fight. He is a coward, he is not the actions of a warrior," the source said.

The father of five is understood to have returned to his home in east London in the past fortnight after spending three years in prison and then six months in a bail hostel under strict supervision. Al-Muhajiroun, which he led in the past, was outlawed by the UK government in the wake of the July 7 terrorist attacks on London in 2005 but it is believed to continue to operate under a number of different guises.

He is also linked to the London Bridge terror attack in 2017, carried out by Pakistani-origin terror suspect Khuram Butt, among others. The Hope Not Hate group, which campaigns against extremist groups, warned in its 2019 'State of Hate' report that Al Muhajiroun "is starting to emerge again, albeit on a much smaller and more tentative scale than before".

A Daily Telegraph analysis of terror offenders with former links to Al Muhajiroun suggests at least 22 of Choudary's extremist followers have now been released from prison since 2001. The release from jail in recent months of Choudary, who was found guilty of pledging an oath of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and some of his close associates are being seen as a major security threat.

"Public protection is our overriding priority when deciding whether an offender should be allowed to relocate from approved premises," said a UK Ministry of Justice spokesperson. "This would only be permitted following a robust risk assessment and they remain subject to close monitoring and strict licence conditions which, if breached, can see them go back to jail," the spokesperson said.

(With inputs from agencies.)