LONDON -- Radical cleric Anjem Choudary has been charged with inviting support for Islamic State (ISIS).
The 49-year-old from Ilford was charged alongside another man, 32-year-old Mohammed Rahman from East London, Scotland Yard say.
Between June 29, 2014 and March 6, 2015 the pair "invited support for a proscribed terrorist organisation, namely ISIL, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State, contrary to section 12 Terrorism Act 2000," the charge reads.
Preacher and cleric Choudary has long been a controversial figure in the UK, having made a series of incendiary remarks over the years. He referred to the 9/11 terrorists as "magnificent martyrs," refused to condemn the 7/7 bombings in London, and blamed the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013 on British foreign policy.
Two men have been charged with inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation http://t.co/j4M0ZwvpQc pic.twitter.com/lZvcgD3ZEQ— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 5, 2015
Both men have been detained in custody and are set to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court Wednesday afternoon.
They were arrested last September by the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command "on suspicion of being members of the proscribed organisation" and remained on bail during the investigation.
Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the two men invited support for ISIS in individual lectures that were subsequently published online.
Some 700 people have left the UK to support jihadist organisations in Syria and Iraq, police say, with the majority fighting for ISIS.