themselves The Islamic State. Since Choudary had called for the establishment of an Islamic state for many years in his lectures, "he came under intense sustained pressure from his acolytes", to declare his support for the new state. In a private social media message, one supporter, Abu Rumaysah al-Britani, demanded, "We have to declare our position - enough stalling!" Shortly afterwards, Choudary pledged allegiance to the Islamic State's “caliphate,” and its "caliph" (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) "'via Skype, text and phone' during dinner at a restaurant in London." But there were legal implications to swearing allegiance. Journalist Dominic Casciani pointed out that Choudary might circumvent laws on terrorism if "he was supporting a political concept" (an Islamic state) - "not the proscribed terrorist group behind it" (the Islamic State). Choudary believed he had, but British detectives "found the evidence — including a crucial IS oath of allegiance published by one of his Indonesian supporters that could be traced back to private social media conversations". On 5 August 2015, Choudary was charged with one offence under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for inviting support of a proscribed organisation, namely Islamic State, between June 2014 and March 2015. The trial was postponed to 27 June 2016, and was expected to last no more than four weeks. Choudary was convicted on 28 July 2016. At the Old Bailey on 6 September 2016, Mr Justice Holroyde sentenced Choudary to five years and six months in prison, telling him that he had "crossed the line between the legitimate expression of your own views and a criminal act". Release Choudary was released from prison on 19 October 2018. Shortly after his release, it was reported that Choudary would be placed in a probation hostel in London Borough of Camden for six months where he would be required to abide by a number of conditions, such as a ban on speaking in public and talking to the media. In mid-May 2019, Choudary was released from a probation hostel and began "the gradual process of becoming a free man". Other members of his organization were also released around that time, and began to "remobilize" their campaign to replace democracy in the U.K. with a caliphate ruled by Shariah law. Their area of focus (according to The New York Times), included East London and Bedfordshire (including the town of Luton). Their methods included "lower-profile tactics, ... encrypted apps";