Islamists in march outrage to be banned

The order will come into effect tomorrow and make it a criminal offence to be a member, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Mr Johnson said the group had tried to escape proscription simply by changing its name.

He said the order would apply to the group's other names, including Al Muhajiroun.

He said: "Proscription is a tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not a course we take lightly.

"We are clear that an organisation should not be able to circumvent proscription by simply changing its name."

The law to ban the group is made in a parliamentary order which was laid in the House of Commons yesterday.

Islam4UK is led by Anjem Choudary, who founded Al Muhajiroun in the 1980s with radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammad.

Choudary's announcement of a planned march through Wootton Bassett caused dismay.

The Wiltshire town, near to RAF Lyneham where fallen servicemen are repatriated, has come to symbolise the country's commitment to its war dead.

Critics called for police to ban the march in advance, but Choudary dropped the idea on Sunday.

The ban is an extension of an existing order made under the Terrorism Act 2000 that bans the group under the name Al Ghurabaa and The Saved

Sect.

From tomorrow it will be banned under the names Call to Submission, Islam4UK, Islamic Path, and London School of Sharia.

Mr Choudary warned that the ban would force young Muslims "underground" and suggested they could turn to violence.