Labour's mayoral hopeful Sidiq Khan linked to 'online bin Laden'

Labour's candidate for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has faced criticism, after it emerged that Labour's candidate had shared a platform with a group backed by an extremist imam who was as an al-Qaeda recruiter.

A former aide to Theresa May has claimed that Mr Khan made an error of "judgment" by going to four meetings organised by the Stop Political Terror, a group supported by the radical American imam killed in a US airstrike in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was dubbed the 'online bin Laden' for his online prowess, distributing Jihadi propaganda on the web as well as recruiting followers.

The Stop Political Terror later merged with Cage, the organisation that called Jihadi John a "beautiful young man".

Mr Khan has hit back at the allegations, describing Cage as a "vile organisation" and saying he went to the events as part of the campaign to stop Babar Ahmad, a Tooting resident, being extradited to the USA.

Ahmad subsequently pleaded guilty to "conspiracy and providing material to support terrorism".

The meetings ocurred while Khan was Labour's candidate in Tooting in the run up to the 2005 general election.

Stop Police Terror, started in 2003, later its name to Stop Political Terror in September 2004.

Mr Khan attended a conference alongside Adnan Siddiqui on August 8, 2004. Mr Siddiqui helped run the group and is now a prominent member of Cage.

In October 2004 'Stop Political Terror' claimed Awlaki as one of its "supporters".

In November 2004, Mr Khan appeared at a Stop Political Terror demonstration outside Woodhill prison where Siddiqui was also present. There were further events in February and March 2005, the earlier of the two alongside Bilal Patel, a supporter of Abu Hamza.

A spokesman for Mr Khan told the Sunday Time newspaper said: "Before becoming an MP, Sadiq attended a number of events to campaign against the US-UK extradition treaty — a campaign that was also vigorously supported by Tory MPs including Zac Goldsmith and Boris Johnson. These events had nothing to do with Cage — a vile organisation whose events featured as speakers leading Tories including the minister Jane Ellison as recently as 2012."

Nick Timothy, a former adviser to the home secretary, said: "We already knew that Sadiq Khan spent years campaigning to prevent the extradition of Babar Ahmad, who pleaded guilty to terrorism offences in the US. Now he appears to have links with an organisation that was connected to Anwar al-Awlaki, and became part of the notorious Cage. London faces a serious threat from terrorism: anybody who wants to be its mayor should show better judgment."