UK Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary gets life sentence for terrorism charges

British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for directing a terrorist organization.

Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of directing al-Muhajiroun, which was banned as a terrorist organization more than a decade ago, and encouraging others to support the proscribed group.

“Organisations such as yours normalise violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.

Wall imposed a life sentence on Choudary with a minimum term of 28 years before he can be eligible for parole, less just over the year that he has spent in custody since his arrest.

Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary drew attention for praising the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.

He was previously imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Islamic State, before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

‘A 17-year-old boy from Banks, has been charged with the murders of Bebe, Elsie Dot and Alice.

Choudary stood trial alongside Canadian citizen Khaled Hussein, 29, who was arrested on the same day as Choudary in 2023 when he arrived on a flight at Heathrow Airport.

Hussein was found guilty of membership of a proscribed organisation and sentenced to five years in prison.