Radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been convicted by a UK court of terrorism offenses, including directing a terrorist organization. Choudary was found guilty of leading the banned terrorist organization al-Muhajiroun from 2014 onwards and encouraging support for it through online meetings.
Choudary, who was arrested in east London on July 17 last year, faces sentencing on July 30. Al-Muhajiroun was banned in 2010, but the group continued to operate under different names. During the trial, Choudary likened his continued association with al-Muhajiroun to the "Kevin Keegan effect," suggesting that people still linked him to the group despite its official ban.
In 2016, Choudary was jailed for encouraging support for the Islamic State but was released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence. The 57-year-old father-of-five had given speeches to the New York-based Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), which prosecutors argued was another alias for al-Muhajiroun.
The conviction was the result of investigations by the Metropolitan Police, the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's counterterrorism command, highlighted Choudary's significant radicalizing impact, stating that the group's influence had extended globally and led to individuals conducting terrorist attacks or traveling for terrorist purposes.
