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Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old Muslim man, has been charged Friday with the murder of Conservative MP David Amess, who was stabbed while meeting constituents in southeast England, the Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday.
Ali, who lives in north London, has also been charged with the preparation of terrorist acts, the source added.
The MP, who represented the constituency of Southend West, in the county of Essex (southeast England), was stabbed to death while celebrating in a Methodist church in the town of Leigh-on-Sea the so-called “surgery”, the usual session that all MPs have every Friday to personally address problems or complaints from their constituents.
The defendant is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London, where this magistrates’ court will formally lay the charges.
“We will submit to the court that this murder has a terrorist connection, namely that it had both religious and ideological motivations,” said Nick Price, a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations, Matt Jukes, told the media that the charges brought today are a “ignificant milestone in the case, but the work from my colleagues in the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command will continue apace.”
Jukes added that law enforcement, outside of Ali, is not looking for anyone else in connection with the murder.
On Monday, the House of Commons (lower house) paid tribute to the parliamentarian, who died at the age of 69.
At the session, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Queen Elizabeth II had given her consent for the town of Southend to be elevated to city status, something for which the MP had fought for several years.
