British police have released radical preacher Anjem Choudary on bail, a day after he and eight others were arrested in an investigation into a banned extremist group.
Choudary said his arrest was "politically motivated", telling reporters that the government "waited until the day before a major vote on a war against Muslims for a high-profile series of arrests."
British lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly voted in favour to join US-led airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic State (IS) militants, who have seized control of vast areas of the country and beheaded a series of foreign hostages.
"I've been released from police custody. Just in time for Cameron to declare war on Islam & Muslims in Iraq & Syria," Choudary wrote on Twitter.
Police said the arrests were part of an investigation into Al-Muhajiroun, a banned extremist group co-founded by Choudary, a Briton of Pakistani descent known for making inflammatory statements.
A 47-year-old former lawyer, Choudary was among nine men arrested on Thursday in a police swoop. He has been bailed until January.
Another two suspects were detained in their car on a motorway on Friday, one on suspicion of "encouraging terrorism" and the other for "assisting an offender".
"These arrests and searches are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism and are not in response to any immediate public safety risk," police said.
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