British police authorities say Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary has been charged with encouraging support for the ISIL terrorists.

According to Scotland Yards, Choudary faces a charge of inviting support for the Takfiri terrorist group through lectures published online.

Another Muslim man named Mohammad Rahman faces the similar charge.

“Following an investigation by the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command, we have today authorised charges against Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman,” said Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service.

“We have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to prosecute Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman for inviting support for ISIL, a proscribed terrorist organization, between 29 June 2014 and 6 March this year. Each man is charged with one offence contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000,” she noted.

Both men have been in police custody and were due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday afternoon.

The 48-year-old man has been largely criticized for his extremist views and has received little support from mainstream UK Muslims.

A London-based political commentator says the Choudary has nothing to do with Islam as he has already been involved in fueling sectarianism among Muslim groups.

“It’s nothing new that Anjem Choudary and people like him have been supporting al-Qaeda and ISIL…This guy has no connection to Islam the same way Benjamin Netanyahu has no connection to Judaism…,” Shabbir Hassanally told Press TV’s UK Desk on Wednesday.

“In a way it’s not a bad thing that he's been arrested, however, I fear that within his ilk this will be treated by him as some sort of badge of honour.  The reality is that there are forces that the British government is closely allied with - Saudi, Israel - that have a vested interest in ensuring that people like Choudhary exist and permeate society, so as to ensure that people are misdirected from the reality of Islam and instead focus on what is an invalid perception of Islam,” he said.

“Anjem Choudhary is one of the reasons why Islam is perceived very negatively in the UK and Europe at large, now while there might be other entities behind him - covertly or overtly - is another discussion, but the bottom line is that the image of Islam this person portrays is that of something disgusting and backward.  The same image is portrayed by DAESH (ISIL) and their Saudi Zionist backers,” Shabbir Hassanally reiterated.