On Thursday 29th October, a 27-year-old man from Leicestershire appeared before the court following allegations of being part of the Islamic State (IS) and accusations of sending money abroad to allow captured militants to escape prison camps in Syria, it has emerged.
Leicester Mercury reported that Hisham Chaudhary faced seven counts of terror charges, including four counts of disseminating a terrorist publication titled The Wholesome Fruit In The Virtues And Etiquettes Of Jihad in October and November last year.
He is also charged with the membership of a proscribed organisation, and two counts of entering a funding arrangement. He is believed to have accepted that he was member of the terror group, which was banned under UK law in 2014, who acted as part of a wide network to support the organisation. He is accused of gathering funds and transferring the money abroad using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to allow captured ISIS militants to escape Kurd-controlled prison camps in northern Syria. Charges state he distributed the video on a Twitter account and using the encrypted messaging service Telegram. He gave no indication of pleas to the seven charges during the brief hearing on Thursday.
He was arrested after an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands and Leicestershire Police.
