UK: Al-Muhajiroun leader Anjem Choudary given life sentence
A British court has sentenced the former leader of al-Muhajiroun, Anjem Choudary, to 28 years in prison on Monday for running a "proscribed terrrorist organisation".
British counterterrorism police previously said Choudary had a "radicalising impact" on several individuals.
People associated with al-Muhajiroun either took part in terror attacks in the UK or joined militant organisations such as the Islamic State group (IS).
Choudary, 57, was a long-time deputy to the group's founder Omar Bakri Muhammad, before he fled to his native Lebanon, where he is currently understood to be in prison after a terrorism conviction.
Al-Muhajiroun was a splinter group of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir movemement, which itself was proscribed in January.
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The group differed considerably from Hizb-ut-Tahrir on its theology and its position on political violence, which the latter opposes as a matter of ideology.
Prior conviction
A joint investigation by London's Metropolitan police, the British intelligence agency MI5, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), preceded Choudary's trial and conviction.
Choudary had a previous conviction under the Terrorism Act in 2016 for his support of IS, which resulted in a five-year sentence.
In a statement released on 23 July after Choudary's conviction but before sentencing, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: "In July 2021, licence conditions linked to Choudary’s previous terrorism conviction in 2016 expired, and officers became increasingly concerned that he would re-engage with terrorist activity."
"The investigation into Choudary culminated in his arrest almost two years later. It was thanks to information provided to the (counterterrorism command) by colleagues from the NYPD and then also the RCMP that detectives in London were able to piece together evidence that Choudary was running and directing what was in effect the banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) via online lectures with followers based in New York," it added.
A 29-year-old Canadian national, Khaled Hussein, was also convicted for membership of a proscribed organisation, alongside Choudary.
Dominic Murphy, who leads the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command said: "We were able to build a very strong case to prove Choudary was directing the terrorist group and encouraging others to join them."
For years, particularly after the attacks on 11 September 2001, Choudary was a prominent media personality, appearing on mainstream networks to the consternation of Muslim groups, who saw him as an outlier who did not represent the views of their community.
Within the Muslim community, members of al-Muhajiroun were often barred from mosques and prevented from recruiting within their premises.
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