London: Britain's counter-terrorism officer investigating the murder of a Bangladeshi-origin imam today charged a 24-year-old man for helping his killer flee the country.
Jalal Uddin died of multiple injuries to his head and face in the UK earlier this year and his killer, Mohammed Abdul Kadir, was convicted of the 71-year-old's murder earlier this month in absentia.
Kadir is believed to have fled to Syria and joined Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.
Mohammed Syadul Hussain has now been charged with assisting an offender contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 and is accused of helping Kadir leave the country for Turkey three days after the murder on February 18.
Hussain has been remanded in custody to appear at Manchester Crown Court on October 24, Greater Manchester Police said.
The new charge comes 10 days after 21-year-old Mohammed Syeedy was jailed for a minimum of 24 years for his part in Uddin?s murder.
Kadir and Syeedy were found guilty of killing Uddin after a trial which heard Uddin practiced a form of Islamic healing called Ruqya, considered to be "black magic" by some extremists.
Syeedy and his friends surveilled Uddin for 18 months before Kadir bludgeoned him to death with a hammer in a children?s playground as he walked home from his mosque at night.
"It seems to me that this was a case of two members of the Muslim faith killing another member of the Muslim faith solely because they disapproved of a particular practice carried out by that person," Judge David Maddison said.
Kadir remains the subject of an international manhunt.
