Anjem Choudary, a pro-ISIS supporter and leader of the terror organization Al-Muhajiroun, could walk out of a maximum-security prison a free man this week after being convicted in 2016 for publicly pledging allegiance to ISIS.
51-year-old Choudary was sentenced to five-and-a-half-years in Frankland Prison in County Durham and if released, will only have served less than half of his sentence, The Daily Mail reported.
After his release, he will be escorted by police to a safe house in north London to avoid assassination plots against him with around the clock police protection, Express News reported.
And, while he will have paid his dues, U.K. taxpayers will be paying next as they are tagged with an annual $2.6 million bill to ensure his safety and that he meets his terms of parole.
Notorious ISIS-supporting hate preacher, will require £2m a year of taxpayers money to secure his protectionhttps://t.co/s8BIBvUciI
— RT (@RT_com) October 16, 2018
Choudary will be monitored under the multi-agency public protection arrangements, police, probation service and security services.
An unidentified source said, “Choudary is a national hate figure and instantly recognizable. Anybody who sees him in the street armed just with a camera phone will post those photographs and his safety will be immediately compromised.”
U.K. taxpayers have already been paying for Choudary’s crimes, picking up the bill of $4,200 for his conviction and then another $140,000 for his appeal.
The terms of Choudary’s parole will be quite extensive and very costly, estimated to be somewhere around $2 million annually.
Choudary will not have access to his own funds as the U.N. Security Council and French President Emmanuel Macron’s government plans to implement a travel ban and asset freeze against him.
There will be 25 separate conditions that he will have to adhere to after his release, but his safety is also a concern.
A court order requires Choudary to abide by a curfew, wear a tether, not associate with his prior connections and colleagues, and will not be able to visit certain places, including his prior places of worship.
His former connections include Khuram Butt, who executed the London Bridge attack, killing eight people, as well as Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.
Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was sentenced to life in prison for the same crime, has been the only other individual to have received such a harsh punishment in Britain.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said, “We do not comment on individuals.”
Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said Choudary will be watched “very, very carefully”.
