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Islamic hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been banned from Twitter again, just a week after praising its new owner Elon Musk and his free speech vow.
Choudary, 55, who was jailed in 2016 for five-and-a-half years for inviting support for ISIS, amassed 700 followers before he was suspended from the platform.
He once had more than 30,000 followers on Twitter, but he was banned permanently from the social network after rejoining in 2019.
After being banned again, the former lawyer branded the Tesla-billionaire as a hypocrite over free speech and said ‘If you say something you should stand by it’.
Musk bought the social media platform for $44billion and has repeatedly highlighted the importance of free speech and criticised activist groups for ‘trying to destroy’ it.
While Choudary said Musk was ‘ultimately’ a hypocrite who is afraid of upsetting advertisers and law makers.
Hate cleric Anjem Choudary (pictured), who was banned from Twitter a week after returning, has said Elon Musk is ‘ultimately’ a hypocrite about free speech
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44billion and called out activist groups for pressuring advertisers and said they are ‘trying to destroy free speech in America’
Choudary was released from jail on licence in 2018 having served half of his sentence but was subjected to stringent conditions, including a ban from preaching in person or online.
He set up a Twitter account after the Musk-takeover, which hosted several links to sermons and an online debate being hosted on Telegram.
The short-lived account featured tweets about PM Rishi Sunak, the up-coming FIFA World Cup in Qatar and a call for King Charles III to convert to Islam.
Just before the account was banned he said he was tweeting about Sharia law, freeing Muslim prisoners and ‘talking about Islam as an alternative’ – adding he doesn’t ‘see why that needs to be banned’.
Speaking to MailOnline, Choudary said he has appealed the ban, but isn’t holding his breath.
When asked if Musk is a hypocrite, he said: ‘I think he is ultimately. A lot of these individuals, they don’t want to upset the masses.
‘They are funded by advertisements, and they need those in government and policy makers to support them otherwise they can’t maintain their platform
‘So he will have to tow those lines.’
Before his ban Choudary told MailOnline that he planned to use his Twitter account to continue preaching
Choudary says he has appealed the ban but isn’t holding his breath to see if it will be reinstated
Previously Choudary said that his account should remain unbanned if what Elon ‘says about free speech holds true’.
On the topic of free speech, and if he still had it, Choudary said: ‘No, I believe I’m one of, if not the most, banned people around. I’ve had so many accounts banned.
‘I’ve been pushed into the corners of the web.’
He added: ‘I served my time, what about people with other types of convictions?
‘Can they never be rehabilitated?’
Before he was arrested, convicted and locked up, Choudary had become, according to one ex-police chief, the ‘de facto spokesperson for Islamism in the UK’
Before being jailed, he helped to radicalise Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby in South-East London in 2013; and Khuram Butt, the ringleader of the London Bridge attacks of 2017.
Dozens of Choudary’s followers joined ISIS in Syria, including Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Jihadi Sid, who featured in a video showing him executing a victim.
Mohammed Reza Haque, Choudary’s former bodyguard who became known as Jihadi Giant due to his 6ft 6in frame, beheaded a hostage in another propaganda recording.
Choudary, a father-of-five, is understood to have written an autobiography, although is unlikely to make any money from it because he is banned from having a bank account.
Before he was arrested, convicted and locked up, Choudary had become, according to one ex-police chief, the ‘de facto spokesperson for Islamism in the UK’.
Once a leading figure in the now-banned group al-Muhajiroun, he voiced controversial views on Sharia law, while building up a following of thousands through social media, demonstrations and lectures around the world.
Choudary was regularly seen in the media, giving numerous television and newspaper interviews up until his arrest in the autumn of 2014.
But he largely managed to avoid falling foul of the law until he was convicted of inviting support for ISIS.
Choudary was born in north London and studied medicine for a year before he became ‘disenchanted’ and switched to law.
The married father-of-five told jurors at his Old Bailey trial he qualified as a solicitor and opened his own practice.
As he became more religious, practising elements of law troubled him and he decided there was ‘a better path’.
In the 1990s, Choudary became a student of the cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, learning about Sharia Law and the ‘science of the Koran’.
