Anjem Choudary given life sentence for running banned terrorist group

A judge jailed the Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary for life yesterday for running a banned terrorist organisation, telling him: "I cannot foresee a time when you will cease to be dangerous." Choudary was convicted in Woolwich crown court in south London last week of having a "caretaker role" in directing al-Muhajiroun (ALM) from 2014 after its founder, Omar Bakri Muhammad, was imprisoned in Lebanon.

- Haroon Siddique

Choudary, 57, of Ilford, east London, also encouraged support for the group by addressing online meetings of the New York-based Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), which Mr Justice Wall said was "a veil behind which al-Muhajiroun operated".

Sentencing Choudary, Wall said that the preacher had acted as the caretaker of ALM until about 2023, interrupted by his imprisonment in 2016 for his activities supporting Islamic State and when he was on licence from 2018 to July 2021 on his release from jail.

Choudary's 2016 conviction brought to an end his seeming impunity from legal punishment over two decades in which he became notorious for his media appearances and controversial actions such as protesting at soldiers' funerals.