Anjem Choudary returns to his family home in London following bail hostel release

Anjem Choudary is back on the streets of east London (file image)
Jeremy Selwyn
James Morris6 May 2019

Radical hate preacher Anjem Choudary has returned to his family home in east London after being released from a bail hostel.

Choudary, 52, was today pictured by the Daily Telegraph posing outside a shop after buying sweets and loading cash onto an electricity top-up card.

He was released from prison in October last year and subsequently spent six months in a bail hostel in north London. It was part of a five-and-a-half year sentence for inviting support for the Islamic State.

But Choudary is now back on the streets on an electronic tag and under heavy supervision, days after MI5 boss Andrew Parker warned of the “startling” Islamic State terror threat to Britain.

Radical preacher Anjem Choudary leaves Belmarsh Prison in October last year (PA)
PA Archive/PA Images

Choudary has been blamed by police for radicalising many of Britain’s worst terrorists during a decades-long career of extremist preaching.

He led an outlawed extremist group, al-Muhajiroun, and the Telegraph reported how there has been increased activity among his followers.

Supporters of the group carried out attacks such as the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013 and the London Bridge atrocity in 2017.

But amid Choudary’s return to the streets, a security service source told the paper: “The group remains a threat to national security but the disruptions have been very effective.”

It added: “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, his are not the actions of a warrior.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Public protection is our overriding priority when deciding whether an offender should be allowed to relocate from an approved premises.

“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.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in