Anjem Choudary guilty of heading terrorist group

A court has found a radical Islamist preacher guilty of directing a banned terrorist organisation and encouraging support for it online.

Anjem Choudary was convicted by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London for being the "caretaker" leader of Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), which has been banned in the UK since 2010.

Al-Muhajiroun was founded in 1996 by Syrian-born cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad with the aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate in the UK.

Members of the group have been linked to several Islamist extremist attacks, including the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013 and the London Bridge attacks in 2017 and 2019.

Prosecutors said that despite claims of disbandment, Al-Muhajiroun continues to operate under different names, including the New York-based Islamic Thinkers Society.

US law enforcement infiltrated the group and attended online lectures hosted by Choudary in 2022 and 2023, leading to police investigations in the UK and Canada.

"There are individuals that have conducted terrorist attacks or travelled for terrorist purposes as a result of Anjem Choudary's radicalising impact upon them," said Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan Police. Murphy, who heads the force's counter-terrorism command, added, "ALM's tentacles have spread across the world and have had a massive impact on public safety and security."

Rebecca Weiner, deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, described Choudary's conviction as "historic" and called him a "shameless, prolific radicaliser." She said, "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. It's rarely the leader, which is what makes this a particularly important moment."

The prosecution stated that Choudary, 57, from Ilford in east London, took over as head of Al-Muhajiroun while Muhammad was in prison in Lebanon from 2014 to 2023. Choudary, a former lawyer, was jailed for five and a half years in 2016 for encouraging support for the Islamic State group and was released early in 2018.

During his trial, Choudary denied inviting support for ALM during the online lectures and claimed the group had been disbanded. However, prosecutors argued that police investigations showed that ITS was "the same" as ALM, and Murphy said it was "clear" that Choudary had an influence online.

Choudary's co-defendant, Khaled Hussein, 29, from Edmonton, Canada, was also convicted of membership in ALM. Hussein, described as "a follower and dedicated support" of Choudary, was arrested at London Heathrow Airport after arriving on a flight on July 17.

Both men will be sentenced on July 30.

(With inputs from AFP)