British doctor with extremist links struck off: Surgeon on the run after conviction over Islamist rally is banned from practising in UK

• Dr Mirza Tariq Ali fled the country after being charged with violent disorder
• Convicted in relation to an extremist rally in Central London last May
• Ali, 39, from East London, is now feared to be fighting as a jihadi in Syria 
• 
  

+3

Banned: Dr Mirza Tariq Ali, 39, a locum surgeon, fled the country after being charged with violent disorder

A Muslim surgeon who was convicted in the first-ever successful prosecution for Islamic sectarian violence in Britain has been banned from practising as a doctor.

Dr Mirza Tariq Ali, 39, a locum surgeon, fled the country after being charged with violent disorder during an extremist rally in Central London in May last year.

He is now feared to be fighting as a jihadi in Syria.

In June, Ali, from Walthamstow, East London, was found guilty in his absence at the Old Bailey of violent disorder and sentenced to 15 months.

Last week, Ali was struck off by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) after a hearing in Manchester.

The MPTS heard how Ali – who worked as a general surgery registrar in hospitals across the capital – helped to organise a rally against the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad for members of the banned Sunni Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun in Edgware Road, Central London.

Some of the protesters at the rally assaulted a number of Shia bystanders, and Ali was seen hitting one of the victims repeatedly with a flag post, the tribunal heard.

Scotland Yard said an arrest warrant for Ali is outstanding, but declined to comment on whether he is fighting in Syria.