Anjem Choudary - the former medical student who preached hate and praised terror attacks
Anjem Choudary assumed a caretaker role in ALM after Omar Bakri Muhammad left the UK for Lebanon.
Anjem Choudary interviewed by Metropolitan Police in 2023
Anjem Choudary is facing a life behind bars after he was sentenced to serve a minimum of 28 years for overseeing the running of a terrorist organisation today. Taking into account time served he will not be eligible for parole for 26 years.
After a trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Choudary was last week convicted of taking a "caretaker role" in directing Al-Muhajiroun (ALM).
Choudary directed the terrorist organisation for a significant period of time from 2014 onwards as well as encouraging support for the group by speaking during online meetings of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS).
The 57-year-old, from Ilford, east London, also lectured the New York-based ITS, described during the trial as "the same" as ALM.
He was sentenced alongside Canadian Khaled Hussein.
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Who is Anjem Choudary?
Anjem Choudary is a 57-year-old, London-born Islamist extremist whose parents moved to Britain from what became Pakistan in 1947.
A former student at Barts Medical School, he has admitted to drinking and taking drugs while a student, saying: “I wasn’t always practising.”
He switched to law and studied at the University of Southampton, before moving to London to teach English as a second language (ESL) in 1991.
In the early 1990s, he worked alongside radical preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad.
Choudary went of to become chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers, but in 2002 he was removed from the roll of solicitors (the official register of legal practitioners).
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In 1999, it was reported that Choudary was playing a key role in recruiting British fighters for Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front in Chechnya.
In 2008, he founded Islam4UK, described as "a platform to propagate the supreme Islamic ideology within the United Kingdom as a divine alternative to man-made law”.
Asked by a Muslim woman about the incendiary language of a speaker at one of the organisation’s events, he said: "Islam is not a religion of peace ... It is a religion of submission. We need to submit to the will of Allah."
What did he do?
The leadership of Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) passed to Anjem Choudary once Bakri Muhammad left the UK for Lebanon in 2005 and was subsequently banned from returning.
The group pre-emptively "disbanded" itself in 2005 to avoid being proscribed, but continued to operate.
Members have been implicated in several terrorist attacks, including the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013, the 2017 London Bridge attack, and the 2019 London Bridge stabbing.
It operated overtly for a number of years and often caused public outcry - openly praising the 9/11 attacks, calling its annual conference that year "A Towering Achievement" and its 2002 conference "The Magnificent 19" in reference to the hijackers.
Successive Home Secretaries proscribed 14 different aliases used by the group. However, ALM utilised more than 50 aliases during the course of its existence, according to Choudary in a covert audio recording heard during his trial.
Between 2010 and 2014, the group regularly changed its name and staged provocative protests outside Royal Wootton Bassett to coincide with the return of the bodies of dead servicemen from overseas.
In 2014, Choudary pledged allegiance to Isis via an Indonesian website and was subsequently imprisoned in 2016.
Following his release from prison and the end of his licence conditions in 2021, Choudary encouraged support for ALM by addressing online meetings of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS).
Anjem Choudary timeline
November 17 2021
Hussein sends NYPD undercover officer a voice message which states that he is working for "Sheikh Anjem".
February 2022
Hussein meets Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) undercover officer and sends voice note stating ITS are the "remnants of Al-Muhajiroun".
Spring 2022
RCMP contacts the Met's Counter Terrorism Command in relation to ongoing investigation into Hussein.
June 12 2022
Choudary hosts first online lecture for ITS - attended by NYPD undercover officers. Choudary goes on to hold around 40 lectures or classes for ITS up until April 2023.
October 2022
NYPD visits London and meets with the Met's Counter Terrorism Command to discuss respective investigations and material.
March 9 and 22 2023
Covert recordings of Choudary speaking with his wife discussing his involvement in ITS and ALM.
March 26 2023
Further covert recording of Choudary speaking with other ITS leaders - Akbar Khattak and Abu Hamza.
March 29 and 30 2023
Choudary sends a message to ITS group chat that Bakri Muhammad has been released from prison. Choudary begins sending Bakri Muhammad direct messages the next day.
April 2 2023
Choudary hosts further online lecture with ITS which features Bakri Muhammad as a guest speaker.
April 30 2023
Covert recording of a phone conversation between Choudary and Bakri Muhammad - within this Choudary confirms to Bakri Muhammad that he took over as "caretaker emir" for ALM.
June/July 2023
Met Counter Terrorism Command officers visit the US and Canada to gather further evidence including geo-location restricted video of Choudary detailing his activities with ALM.
June 30 2023
Hussein reveals to a Canadian undercover officer his plans to visit Choudary in London.
July 17 2023
Choudary arrested at his address and Hussein arrested at Heathrow Airport as he arrives into the UK on a flight from Canada.
