British-Pakistani Muslim preacher charged with inviting support for IS

British preacher Anjem Choudary was on Wednesday charged under anti-terror laws with inviting support for the Islamic State group, prosecutors said.

The 48-year-old is regularly interviewed by British media for his views on Islam and the Middle East.

He and a second man, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 32, were charged with inviting support for the IS group between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015.

"Each man is charged with one offence contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000," 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." 

Both men were arrested on 25 September last year on suspicion of being members of a banned organisation and released on police bail.

They were detained again pending a formal charging hearing at a London court later on Wednesday.

Choudary, who has Pakistani roots, publicly proclaimed his support for IS last year, stating that he supports their “legitimacy”. While a well known name in the UK, Chandry is not believed to have widespread infuence in the Middle East

In an interview with the Kuwait daily al-Watan last November, Choudary maintained that IS is the victim of a “propaganda war to tarnish its image”. His outspoken support for IS and the self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bark al-Baghdadi resulted in the British government revoking his UK citizenship back in October.

“I do not believe in borders between the Islamic countries because they were put there by colonial powers,” he said. “All land belongs to God.”

He also stated that he is willing to relocate his wife and five children, all born in the UK, to the “land of the caliphate” if the British government returns his passport to him.

“I support Islamic sharia,” he said, referring to Islam’s legal system of law that is the subject of controversy between traditionalists and reformists with regards to its implementation in modern states.

“There is jihad by war and jihad by pen,” he continued, mentioning the Arabic war for struggle. “Since it is impossible for me to go to Syria after my passport has been withdrawn, I do jihad by the pen. That is my responsibility, to defend Muslims wherever they are.”

Choudary prides himself in being a former student of the Lebanese salafist Omar Bakri, which the Lebanese government arrested last year for his support of IS.

It is estimated that around 500 Britons left the country to fight for IS in Syria and elsehwere. There are over 2,600,000 Muslims in England, making up around 5 percent of the total national population.

The majority of Muslims are of Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds, making up around 1,430,000 to 178,000 of Muslim Arabs- or a ratio of over 60 percent to 6 percent, according to a consensus survey in 2011.

While many have been in the UK for decades, the government has grown increasingly alarmed by what it has called the "poison" of extremism and has vowed to makes tackling the issue a key priority.