Seven added to U.S. terrorism list, including jailed British preacher

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A high-profile British Islamist preacher who was sentenced to prison last year for inviting support for the Islamic State militancy was added to the U.S. global counterterrorism list, the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday. Anjem Choudary, 50, who was imprisoned in Britain in September for five and a half years for encouraging support for Islamic State, was added to a list of specially designated global terrorists by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control and the U.S. State Department. Choudary was one of seven people added to the list, which blocks their assets in the United States and prohibits U.S. citizens from dealing with them, the Treasury said. Also placed on the list were Sami Bashur Bouras, a Swedish citizen; Shane Dominic Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago; El Shafee Elsheikh, a British citizen; Muhammad Wanndy bin Mohamed Jedi, of Malaysia; Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo of Indonesia; and John Mark Taylor of New Zealand. Naim is suspected of organising the Jakarta attacks in January 2016 that killed four civilians and wounded 23 with explosions and gunfire, the Treasury said. Wanndy claimed responsibility on behalf of Islamic State last year for a grenade attack on a Malaysian nightclub that wounded eight, it said. Elsheikh is suspected of being one of four Britons who acted as Islamic State jailers in Syria. The group, dubbed the "Beatles" because of their accents, are suspected of beheading more than 27 hostages and torturing many more, the State Department said in a statement. John Mark Taylor reportedly is a former New Zealand infantryman who joined Islamic State in Syria. Media reports in Britain and New Zealand said he picked up the nickname "bumbling jihadi" after he failed to turn off the geotagging function on his Twitter account, broadcasting his location to the world. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Andrea Ricci)