UK govt aims to close loophole in anti-terror laws

London: The UK government is looking at closing a loophole in the anti-terror laws that allowed the early release of Pakistani-origin radical Islamist preacher, Anjem Choudary, from the jail earlier this week, according to media reports Sunday. The release of Choudary after serving just half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence for inciting support for the Islamic State (IS) terror group had led to UK security minister Ben Wallace's assurance that "jihadists convicted of inviting support for terrorist groups such as ISIS would no longer be eligible for such an early release", The Sunday Times reported.

The 51-year-old preacher was charged with one of the few terror offences that prohibits a UK judge from imposing an "extended determinate sentence" (EDS), which allows a "dangerous" offender to be kept inside jail beyond the halfway point of his sentence.

Responding to his release, Wallace said that the offence Choudary had committed would be brought "within the scope" of the EDS regime, the report said.

Choudary was freed from the London's high-security Belmarsh jail on Friday for reported "good behaviour" and moved to a bail hostel under 25 strict conditions on his movement and interactions with the outside world.