Abdul Arwani
Abdul Hadi Arwani was found dead in his car in in Greenhill, Wembley, on 7 April Met Police

A man has been charged with the murder of a Syrian preacher found shot dead in a car in north-west London.

After police launched an investigation into the death of Abdul Hadi Arwani, 36-year-old Leslie Cooper was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

On 7 April, Arwani, 48, was found in Wembley at the wheel of his VW Passat with bullet wounds to the chest.

The cleric was said to be a vocal critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and was reported to have been "sentenced to death" in the country for photographing a site of a massacre in his hometown of Hama in 1982.

The Crown Prosecution Service has now charged Cooper with Arwani's murder. He is due to appear before Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court to face the charges on 14 April.

A CPS spokesperson said: "Mr Cooper now stands charged with a criminal offence and has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

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