An imam arrested in 2009 as al Qaeda’s suspected number one in the eastern Turkish city of Van has been nominated by Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party as its top parliamentary candidate for the city in June 24 elections, left-wing newspaper Evrensel wrote.

Osman Nuri Gülaçar, who was kept in jail together with two other men for two months on the charges, was officially cleared of them seven months ago.

His home was raided a second time in connection with al Qaeda links in January 2014.

Gülaçar continues to work as an imam at a mosque near the centre of the city, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the party in 2014 mayoral elections. His campaign became notorious for two prominent incidents of violence against his rivals in the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), plus one event in which his bodyguards began firing at random after meeting a hostile crowd.

When the then-Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, came to the city to campaign on behalf of Gülaçar, the current president gave the imam a strong endorsement.

Gülaçar “is a spotless person,” Erdoğan said.