Radical preacher Anjem Chaudhary was sentenced to life imprisonment

Radical preacher Anjem Chaudhary, an influential figure in the Islamic movement in the United Kingdom, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, July 30. “Terrorist Organization” Several deadly attacks have been banned and related in recent years. The 57-year-old lawyer, of Pakistani origin, was sentenced to twenty-eight years in custody following a trial co-led by Woolwich Crown Court in London, a year after his arrest. , USA and Canada.

Long in the crosshairs of authorities while on the run, the 57-year-old lawyer of Pakistani origin spent the mid-2010s in prison for supporting the Islamic State (IS) group. Last week, Woolwich Crown Court in London found him guilty of leading the al-Mowhajiroon (ALM) organization since 2014, banned in the United Kingdom since 2010.

Anjem Choudhary positioned himself as one of the main representatives of “Londonistan”, a radical Islamic movement founded in the British capital in the early 2000s, in front of mosques, embassies and police stations in the United Kingdom.

A call to support the Islamic State

He said his ultimate goal was to fly the flag of Islam at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British Prime Minister. However, his knowledge of the law kept him from crossing the red line of illegality until the mid-2010s.

In 2016, he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for calling for support for ISIS in a series of videos posted on YouTube after pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He was released in October 2018 after serving half of his sentence, but was placed under surveillance for the remainder.

Once these measures were lifted, he resumed his online proselytizing activities in a more active manner, according to security services. In particular, he began speaking at online conferences of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), a group based in New York but considered the American branch of ALM.

Secret US agents attended some of these meetings, leading to the preacher’s arrest in the early hours of July 17, 2023, at his home in East London. Investigations confirmed that Anjem Chowdhury assumed leadership of ALM in 2014, after its founder, Omar Bakri, another prominent preacher, was jailed in Lebanon. Anjem Chowdhury testified during the trial “not present” And ALM was removed in 2004.