Former professional boxer Anthony Small, has been cleared of plotting to leave Britain to join Islamic State militants in Syria.Small's flourishing boxing career came to an end when he converted to Islam at the age of 24. Now known as Abdul-Haqq, he decided the sport's lifestyle was incompatible with his hardline practice of the religion and took up preaching instead.An associate of the infamous Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary and his banned organization Al-Muhajiroun, Haqq used social media to share his fundamentalist views of Islam. He regularly posted controversial videos filmed in his home, justifying IS beheadings and terror attacks such as the public killing of UK soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.Haqq's views have led to multiple police raids on his house, as well as accusations of trying to join IS in the Middle East. VICE News spoke to Haqq on the run up to his arrest about police raids, Western foreign policy, and his faith. We then caught up with him again outside London's Old Bailey court after his release.Watch "The Fight for the Muslim Vote: The British Election"Read "'The Struggle of Our Generation': David Cameron Unveils Plan to Root Out 'Poison' of Islamist Extremism in UK"
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VICE News Meets Anthony Small: The Islamist Boxer
Having been cleared of plotting to leave Britain to join Islamic State militants in Syria, VICE News spoke to former professional boxer Anthony Small, now known as Abdul-Haqq, on the run up to his arrest.