UNITED KINGDOM - Extremist preacher Anjem Choudary has lost his attempt to challenge his conviction and life sentence for running a group banned under UK terror laws.
The ruling means Choudary - considered by security chiefs to be one of the most dangerous men in Britain - cannot leave jail before he is 85 years old. The 59-year-old leader of the proscribed group al-Muhajiroun (ALM) was found guilty in 2024 of directing terrorism and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years. A jury found that he had attempted to resurrect his network following his release from an earlier prison sentence. Al-Muhajiroun has been linked to more than two decades of acts of violence in the UK and abroad.
On Wednesday, three senior judges ruled that the trial had been fair and dismissed the bid for an appeal. "We have concluded this is a case of exceptional gravity persistence and duration," said Lord Justice Edis. "We are unable to say that the sentence was arguably manifestly excessive or wrong in principle." Choudary had been at the heart of the al-Muhajiroun organisation since its founding in the late 1990s by a radical Islamist preacher who was later jailed for life in Lebanon. He then took over the organisation and its advocacy of an extreme version of Islamist philosophy. He argued that the Muslim world was to all intents and purposes in a state of war with non-Muslims.
Many of his followers went on to commit terrorism offences or acts of violence at home and abroad, with some fighting and dying for the Islamic State group in the Middle East. One recruit who went to Syria was Siddhartha Dhar, who was last seen publicly posing with a gun while holding his baby. His fate is unknown, but he was was later believed to be a masked man killing hostages in IS propaganda videos. Choudary was jailed in 2016 for swearing an oath of allegiance to IS. After that sentence ended in 2021 he began trying to rebuild the ALM network, starting with followers in North America. His hopes were shattered thanks to an undercover operation involving security agencies in Canada, the US and UK. Dismissing his application to challenge his conviction, the Court of Appeal ruled there had been no unfairness at his 2024 trial. (BBC)
