‘Shameless’ radicaliser Anjem Choudary jailed for life after being convicted of directing terror group

For decades, Choudary had evaded authorities and carefully kept himself on the right side of the law, but he was jailed from 2016 to 2018 after being convicted of encouraging support for Isis as the terror group was rampaging across Iraq and Syria.

His license conditions expired in 2021, at which point he returned to giving lectures to his supporters.

Sentencing Choudary today, Judge Mr Justice Wall said "having found you to be dangerous, I have concluded that I must pass on you a sentence of life imprisonment" adding that he would have a minimum term of 26 years, 358 days.

In his sentencing remarks, Wall said: "It is clear that despite your protestations, you encouraged people to join Isis.

"It is impossible to say which particular terror acts you knew of or encouraged before they were committed, but I can conclude that you ran an organisation that encouraged acts such as this.

"You sought to grooming young people in your way of thinking.

"You were prepared to encourage young men into radical activity."

Wall added: "I have no doubt that you are a dangerous offender. You are an intelligent man and a persuasive speaker.

"You have no doubt as to the rectitude of your views, your views are entrenched and abhorrent to most right thinking people.

"It was chilling to hear about your denial of the Holocaust and your joking about 9/11.

"I do not sentence you for holding those views, but the fact that you genuinely hold such extreme views, is an indication of the danger that you pose into the future."

"You pose a significant risk of causing harm to the public into the future."

A joint investigation by British, Canadian, and American authorities uncovered that Choudary was giving online lectures - often on encrypted platforms - to a group based in the US called the Islamic Thinkers Society.

But undercover officers had infiltrated the group and made links with Khaled Hussein, 29, a Canadian who worked as Choudary’s “personal assistant” in the group, facilitating his lectures and working on the society’s publications.

In several voice recordings sent to who he thought was a fellow Islamist, but was actually an undercover officer from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Hussein said that he was a member of Al-Muhajiroun and that the Islamic Thinkers Society was its branch in the US.

Both men were arrested last July after Khaled Hussein flew to London from Canada.

Choudary was arrested at his home in Ilford, East London, in a dawn raid.

During the trial, Choudary maintained that Al-Muhajiroun had been disbanded after it was proscribed, but prosecutors alleged that it had used many cover names to avoid police action, including the Islamic Thinkers Society.

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Al-Muhajiroun was founded by Omar Bakri Mohammed in 1996 after he was kicked out of Hizb Ut-Tahrir for being too extreme.

Dismissed as a joke and a parody group, “OBM” and Choudary grew up with significant support among young Muslims in Britain as the security services were preoccupied with tackling the persistent threat from the IRA.

The Islamist sect faced greater scrutiny after the London 7/7 bombings, but by then it had built a power base of hundreds of followers, many of whom would join Choudary on public marches and demonstrations where they called for an end to secularism and democracy.

Al-Muhajiroun - Arabic for “the emigrants” - was linked to several of Britain’s worst terrorists in recent years, including the Isis-supporting knifemen behind the 2017 Borough Market and London Bridge attacks and Usman Khan, who killed two at Fishmonger’s Hall in 2019.

When Usman Khan was first arrested by counter-terrorism authorities in 2010, they found Anjem Choudary’s personal mobile number on his phone.

Choudary was also linked to Michael Adebolajo, one of two Nigerian-heritage Islamists who murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Garrison in May 2013.

During the trial, the jury heard how Choudary had officiated Adebolajo’s wedding.

Prosecutors also revealed that Choudary had joked on the anniversary of 9/11 about how his own radicaliser and ideological leader Omar Bakri Mohammed had charged the press £9.11 to enter an event.

Details of his online lectures, recorded by investigating authorities, showed that he had retained his extremist mentality, reaffirming his belief that violence in the name of Islam was justified.

Choudary had once said that his long-term ambition was to bring Sharia law to Britain and that he wanted to see the flag of Islam flying over Downing Street.

But at Woolwich Crown Court, Choudary’s campaign as a shameless and prolific radicaliser has come to an end.

A senior security official said that the evidence shown in court demonstrated “Choudary's continued involvement in supporting terrorism and radicalising others”.

They added: “Putting a stop to ALM [Al-Muhajiroun] radicalisation has been a key objective of the counter-terrorism community for some years.”

“There are individuals that have conducted terrorist attacks or travelled for terrorist purposes as a result of Anjem Choudary’s radicalizing impact upon them,” said Dominic Murphy, the commander of the Met’s Counter-Terrorism branch, after his conviction.

Speaking to reporters outside Scotland Yard, Rebecca Weiner, deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, said: “It is usually the foot soldiers, the individuals who are brought into the network who go on to commit the attacks who are brought to justice.

“It’s rarely the leader, which is what makes this a particularly important moment.”

Marking the first conviction for directing a terrorist organisation since 2008, Choudary’s role as a radicaliser and his capacity to warp new minds around the world is over.