Anjem Choudary sentencing: Ilford preacher jailed for life

Anjem Choudary was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court today (July 30) to life imprisonment after being found guilty of three crimes linked to a terrorist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun (ALM). 

He was found guilty on July 23 of directing a terrorist organisation, membership of a proscribed organisation and encouraging support for a terrorist organisation following a six-week trial. 

The 58-year-old has been ordered to serve a minimum of 28 years and will be subject to notification requirements for 30 years. 

Choudary had a previous terror conviction from 2016 (Image: Metropolitan Police) Choudary was arrested at his home address in Ilford on July 17, 2023, after being at the centre of an investigation by the Met, MI5, and police forces in New York and Canada.

The radical preacher has a previous terrorism conviction dating back to 2016. 

In July 2021, the license conditions linked to the 2016 conviction expired. In the autumn of 2021, he was flagged again to British police by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). 

The NYPD had been conducting an investigation of its own into a group called the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), when they discovered Choudary was becoming involved with the group. 

Further intel was provided to the Counter Terrorism Command in May 2022 after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) discovered a link between Choudary and a Canadian man, Khaleed Hussein. 

Hussein, from Edmonton, had revealed to an undercover office at the RCMP in a voice note that ITS was acting as a front for the terror group Al-Muhajiroun. 

Hussein had planned to meet Choudary in London (Image: Metropolitan Police) Months long investigations from the police forces saw evidence collected solidifying the links between ALM, ITS and Choudary. 

Choudary was discovered to be running ITS lectures for groups on encrypted platforms after covert recordings from his home captured conversations with his wife about his role in the group. 

Other recordings evidenced a conversation between Choudary and Omar Bakri Muhammad, former leader of Al-Muhajiroun. 

In one conversation, Choudary said that he had taken of the role of leading ALM as "its caretaker emir" in 2014 whilst Bakri was imprisoned in Lebanon for terror offences. 

Hussein was found to have acted as an effective personal assistant to the 58-year-old, helping him host lectures with fellow extremists and editing extremist blogs on Choudary's behalf. 

Detectives discovered that the ALM group had, for a decade, encouraged and assisted numerous people in joining and fighting for Daesh, also known as ISIL or ISIS. 

Choudary himself was found to have sought to "influence and radicalise a new generation of extremists, and encourage them to go and support terrorist causes around the world".

In July 2023, undercover RCMP officers told UK detectives that Hussein was planning to meet Choudary in London. 

The 29-year-old was arrested on July 17, 2023, as he arrived in the UK on a flight from Canada.

Hussein was found guilty of membership of a proscribed organisation on July 23 and has since been sentenced to five years' imprisonment with an additional year on licence. 

He will be subject to notification requirements for 15 years. 

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Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: “These convictions come as a result of some truly remarkable work - not only here in the UK by counter terrorism police and our colleagues in MI5, but also from the incredibly brave work of undercover officers both in the US and Canada.

“I have no doubt that these convictions and the resulting sentences have left communities here in London, and also right across the UK and beyond, much safer.”