Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
London-based Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been found guilty of directing an organisation banned under UK terror laws, following a years-long investigation by UK, US and Canadian police.
Choudary was convicted on Tuesday of taking a “caretaker role” in directing the proscribed terrorist group Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
He was also found guilty of encouraging online support for the group, which has been banned in the UK under various aliases since 2006.
Dominic Murphy, head of London’s Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism command, told journalists that “ALM’s tentacles have spread across the world and have had a massive impact on public safety and security”.
Individuals have conducted terrorist attacks or travelled for terrorist purposes “as a result of Anjem Choudary’s radicalising impact upon them”, Murphy added.
He said the conviction of the 57-year-old from Ilford, east London, as the leader of the group under section 56 of the Terrorism Act marked “a significant milestone” in disrupting the activities of ALM.
Section 56 prohibits the direction of any organisation involved with committing terrorist acts and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The case against Choudary was built through close collaboration between the Met, MI5, the New York Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Prosecutors said Choudary directed ALM for a significant period of time from 2014 when its founding leader Omar Bakri Muhammad was in prison in Lebanon.
He also encouraged support for the group by addressing online meetings of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), the US branch of the group based in New York, prosecutors claimed.
Choudary was imprisoned in the UK from 2016 to 2019 after having been found guilty of supporting Isis. In July 2021 he sought to engage and influence larger groups of people online, according to the Met.
He lectured to ITS followers on the encrypted Element Messenger platform, according to evidence presented to the court and gathered by undercover officers who had infiltrated the group.
“This investigation is a great example of domestic and international partners tackling terrorism — an approach that is vital when disrupting today’s online and internationally connected threat,” one senior security official said.
The court heard evidence of Choudary’s “continued involvement in supporting terrorism and radicalising others”, the official said, adding that “putting a stop to ALM has been a key objective of the counterterrorism community for some years”.
Rebecca Weiner, NYPD deputy commissioner in charge of intelligence and counterterrorism, described Choudary as a “shameless, prolific radicaliser”.
“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. And it’s rarely the leader, which is what makes this a particularly important moment,” she said.
Khaled Hussein, 29, whom prosecutors said was a “follower and dedicated supporter” of Choudary, was also found guilty of membership of ALM.
Hussein, who was in contact with Choudary, had been identified as a leading member of ITS by Canadian police when working as a petrol station attendant in Edmonton, Alberta.
His detention at Heathrow airport on July 17 last year, on his way to meet Choudary in London, triggered the latter’s arrest the same day.
The two men will be sentenced on July 30.