Muslim firebrand is arrested as police hol d nine rabble-rousers
BRITAIN’S most notorious Islamist hate preacher was arrested yesterday in a huge police operation.
Anjem Choudary, 47, was one of nine men held in a series of coordinated dawn raids by counterterrorist police.
The show of force targeted the leadership of radical organisation AlMuhajiroun, which he founded almost 20 years ago, and was later banned.
The arrests came on the eve of the first British air strikes on Islamic extremists waging war in Iraq and Syria. Many of those held across London yesterday have been vocal cheerleaders of the bloodshed in the Middle East.
They included Choudary’s close friend, Trevor Brooks, who recently joined a wave of gloating by Islamists on social networks over the murders of hostages at the hands of the British terrorist known as Jihadi John.
Experts expressed amazement that it had taken so long for police to take action against the outspoken firebrand preacher.
But the operation was launched only after careful consideration of Choudary’s recent public comments against the backdrop of a lifetime of incitement. Sources said the lawyer turned preacher and his followers
‘Hate-supporting
organisation’
had become considerably ‘more brazen’ since the explosion of violence in Iraq. Choudary has stepped up his online rhetoric, bombarding his followers with rabble-rousing messages and handing out leaflets in Oxford Street.
Scotland Yard said it arrested nine men, aged between 22 and 51, in raids across the capital, and on a property in Stoke.
Officers searched 18 addresses across London, including two Tower Hamlets sweet shops run by Choudary’s brother Yazdani. They have seized numerous phones, laptops and desktop computers which have been passed to f orensic experts f or analysis.
All the men were held on suspicion of being a member of, or backing a banned terrorist group and supporting terrorism. The alleged offences, which come under two counter-terrorism acts, carry a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
Choudary was arrested at an unknown location after fleeing his home two weeks ago in the middle of the night in the wake of threats from far-Right groups.
Just hours before he was held, he posted a burst of nine inflammatory messages on Twitter, branding the US bombing raids as a ‘rallying call for Muslims’ and labelling the actions of Western governments in Muslim countries as ‘terrorism’. As recently as last weekend, Choudary made inflammatory remarks about British aid worker Alan Henning, who is being held hostage in Syria.
He blamed the British Government for Mr Henning’s fate because of its ‘complicity in torture and rendition’ and said he would never feel sympathy for the 47-year-old.
He said: ‘In the Koran it is not allowed for you to feel sorry for nonMuslims. I don’t feel sorry for him.’
Choudary also said the Islamic State was building the sort of society he would ‘love to live in’ with his family. But the father of four, who has spent years living off state benefits, said he would not leave Britain because he was born here.
His right-hand man Brooks, a former acolyte of Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Hamza, was also quietly arrested yesterday. Neighbours said Brooks, 39, now known as Abu Izzadeen, was driven away by plainclothes detectives.
Brooks has revelled in the bloodshed in Syria, taunting Prime Minister David Cameron within minutes of the latest video showing the murder of David Haines.
Others held by police included Mizanur Rahman, 31, an online extremist preacher and key lieutenant of Choudary. The former East London web designer boasts of being a student of Omar Bakri and runs a prominent website dedicated to broadcasting his vile views under the name Abu Baraa.
Another suspect to be questioned was Abdul Muhid, 32, who was recently seen canvassing students outside the London School of Economics, and has been described as a ‘stalwart’ of Al-Muhajiroun.
Choudary has been an inspirational figure for a generation of Muslim extremists, including the fanatics behind the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. He led Al-Muhajiroun, which was repeatedly rebranded in a bid to evade repeated attempts to proscribe its activities.
Members gathered under a series of names including al- Ghuraba, Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades, but their Islamist mission has always remained the same.
Campaigners welcomed the arrests but said they should have been made sooner.
Nick Lowles, of Hope Not Hate, said: ‘For over a year, since our own extensive investigations into Anjem Choudary and his disciples, we’ve been saying that more must be done to curb this hate- supporting and recruiting organisation.’