LONDON – Anjem Choudary, a Pakistani-origin radical Islamic preacher in the UK, was convicted in July and a judge on Tuesday ruled that the ‘calculating and dangerous’ man should be jailed
London, September 6
Anjem Choudary, Britain’s best-known Islamist preacher, was jailed on Tuesday for five years and six months for encouraging support for Islamic State, ending years of frustration for police who had struggled to pin charges on him.
Choudary, 49, and close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, who received the same sentence, had been convicted by a jury in July of using the Internet to urge followers to back the banned group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq.
“These men have stayed just within the law for many years and there has been frustration for both law enforcement agencies and communities as they spread hate,” said Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London’s Metropolitan Police.
Long denounced by the press in Britain as a hate preacher, Choudary is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims.
His trial heard that in postings on social media, Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the “caliphate” declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him.
Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, first drew widespread attention for praising the men behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States and for saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth’s official London residence, into a mosque.
