‘Genuinely Dangerous’: Islamic State Supporter Anjem Choudary Released from Prison

It seems pretty simple to me. Radical Muslims must be declared mentally ill (see sidebar comment by Syrian Psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan at http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.com/), and be confined to a very secure mental institution until such time as they recant their faith in literal Islam. 

File Photo: Demonstrator Anjem Choudary © REUTERS / Luke MacGregor

Convicted hate-preacher Anjem Choudary has been released from prison, two years into his five-and-a-half-year sentence. The preacher had been convicted of inviting support for the so-called Islamic State.

The 51-year-old was driven away from London’s high-security Belmarsh prison. Choudary has reportedly been taken to a secure bail hostel in an undisclosed location.

He will now be subject to a large number of requirements as well as monitoring from MI5 and police at a reported cost of £2m a year.

Conditions are thought to include limits on his movements; such as an evening curfew, the wearing of a GPS electronic tag and a ban on visiting specific venues such as Regent’s Park Mosque in central London, where he used to worship.

Choudary’s name has been added to a UN sanctions list, prohibiting him from travelling as well as imposing an asset freeze on him and an ‘arms embargo.’

Prison Minister, Rory Stewart, said ahead of his release that Choudary remains “genuinely dangerous,” adding that the preacher would be watched “very,very carefully.”

Anti-fascist campaigners have warned that Choudary’s release could increase extremism from both the far-right and radical Islamists. Hope not Hate’s Nick Lowles said: “His influence and the damage his actions have caused are unparalleled.

“His release is likely to breathe life back into the extremist movement he once led. No other British citizen has had so much influence over so many terrorists as Choudary.”

Before his arrest Choudary had a constant presence in the British press. Lowles called on the media to “act responsibly” to avoid providing said extremists with an opportunity to “exploit tensions and sow further communal hatred.”

Choudary, one of Britain’s most high profile supporters of Islamic extremism, came to prominence in the early 2000s during the UK’s so-called ‘war on terror.’ The preacher and his group of Muslim extremists, Al-Muhajiroun, toured the country carrying out talks and protests targeting the government and promoting a ‘clash of civilisations’ narrative between Islam and the West.

The murderers of Lee Rigby, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, as well as London Bridge attack ringleader Khuram Butt, were associated with Al-Muhajiroun, now banned in the UK and listed as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department.

‘Genuinely Dangerous’ Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary to be Released from Jail

This absurd story just illustrates how woefully inadequate English laws are in dealing with Muslim jihadists. A serious overhaul is absolutely necessary.

Islamist Anjem Choudary arrives at court for his trial in London. June 27, 2016. © Velar Grant / Global Look Press

Anjem Choudary, the Islamist hate preacher is to be released from jail in a matter of weeks, despite a stark warning from the prisons minister that he remained “genuinely dangerous.”

Choudary, who was jailed in 2016 for terrorism offences, after being found guilty of encouraging Muslims to join Islamic State is to be released from prison next month, having only served half his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

The UK government’s prisons minister, Rory Stewart, conceded on Tuesday that they were powerless to prevent Choudary from being freed on licence, despite his assessment that the cleric remained “a genuinely dangerous person.”

Here is where you need to determine that Islamic jihadists/radicals are mentally ill and must be confined to a secure hospital until they are cured or until they die, whichever comes first.

Stewart told the Evening Standard that the preacher was “a deeply pernicious, destabilising influence”, adding: “He is somebody that I would put into the category I have just mentioned – somebody who was not given a sentence of enormous length but somebody who is a genuinely dangerous person.

“We will be watching him very, very carefully.”

David Videcette, the lead detective on the 7/7 London bombings investigation in 2005, said: “Every plot I ever researched – someone in it was linked to Choudary.”

“Every plot I ever researched – 

someone in it was linked to Choudary”

Choudary, 51 from Ilford, east London, was leader of proscribed terrorist organisation al-Muhajiroun, whose followers included the killers of British Fusilier Lee Rigby, who was murdered outside his barracks in south London in 2013.

Another disciple of Choudary, is Khuram Butt, who was a member of the London Bridge terror cell which murdered eight innocent bystanders in June 2017.

At the time of Choudary’s imprisonment, the preacher had been linked to 15 terror plots over the course of almost 20 years and connections to hundreds of British jihadists who went to Syria to fight.

Former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Lord Carlile, said Choudary “knows how to play the system”, adding: “It is disturbing and worrying that he will be back on the streets.”

Radical UK Cleric Anjem Choudary Jailed for 5.5yrs for Supporting ISIS

© Tal Cohen / Reuters

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ imprisonment after being convicted of drumming up support for Islamic State.

The 49-year-old British-born leader of outlawed group al-Muhajiroun posted a series of YouTube videos recognizing the “caliphate” created by IS in the territories of Iraq and Syria.

At sentencing at the Old Bailey, Choudary and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, who received the same sentence, were found guilty of inviting support for IS between June 29, 2014 and March 6, 2015 and remanded into custody.

As Choudary was sentenced, his supporters in the public gallery shouted “Allahu Akbar.”


During the trial, Justice Holroyde said the pair failed to condemn the barbaric acts of IS.

“You did nothing to condemn any aspect of what ISIS was doing at the time. In that way you indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity.

“You are both mature men and intelligent men who knew throughout exactly what you were doing. You are both fluent and persuasive speakers.”

He described Choudary as “calculating,” while Rahman was simply a “hothead,” albeit equally dangerous and remorseless.

Despite leading al-Muhajiroun, Choudary had kept on the right side of the law for 20 years.

However, his enthusiastic videos in support of IS gave police cause to arrest him under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Details of the case could not be reported until last month due to legal restrictions.

Choudary and his organization have been blamed by counter-terrorism experts for radicalizing hundreds of people, including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who murdered soldier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks in 2013.

Choudary was last seen in public while on bail in April, ordering a meal from a north London McDonald’s. A picture of the sharia law-supporting preacher was released on Tuesday, showing Choudary holding a loaded tray at the counter.

“Considering he hates everything about the West, and is also meant to only eat at halal places, he is clearly a hypocrite. I had heard of this guy before and I was a bit surprised given what he preaches so I took a picture of it,” a witness said.

“I live in Luton and he is often there preaching and I have seen him numerous times. There was a couple of people that also recognized him. He had a disagreement with someone there, but I don’t know what they were saying.”

MI5 ‘Blocked’ Arrest of ISIS-Supporting Radical Preacher Choudary ‘for Years’

Many of us who pay attention to things like this have been frustrated for years trying to figure out why the British allowed this nut-case to continue preaching his Islamic insanity. Now we know why, and personally, I think it was extremely irresponsible. How many young people were radicalized in this time frame? How many terrorist attacks was he involved in during that time?


Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary © Tal Cohen / Reuters

Counterterrorism officers were repeatedly blocked by British security service MI5 from pursuing criminal investigations against Britain’s highest-profile radical preacher, Anjem Choudary, it has been claimed.

Last week, Choudary was found guilty of supporting Islamic State, which seized territory in Iraq and Syria and inspired terrorist attacks across Europe.

Following his conviction, it was revealed that the 49-year-old former lawyer had been linked to at least 15 terrorist plots since 2001. Police also believe he has connections to as many as 500 of the 850 young British Muslims who have traveled abroad to join IS.

According to the Telegraph, counter-terrorism officers often felt they had enough evidence to build a case against the cleric, only to be told to hang fire by MI5 because he was crucial to one of their ongoing investigations.

The situation led to a build-up of tension between the two sides, with police feeling “frustrated” that Choudary was not being brought to justice, a source told the newspaper.

He was eventually prosecuted after swearing an oath of allegiance to IS and posting YouTube videos in which he praised the group.

One counterterrorism source says the decision not to prosecute him earlier came from MI5.

“I am gobsmacked that we allowed him to carry on as long as he did. He was up to his neck in it, but the police can’t do full investigations on people if the security service say they are working on a really big job, because they have the priority,” he told the Telegraph.

“That is what they did constantly. While the police might have had lots of evidence, they were pulled back by the security service because he [Choudary] was one of the people they were monitoring.

“It was very frustrating and did cause some tension, but we were told we had to consider the bigger picture.”

Security expert Will Geddes said while police and security services had a good record of working together, there was often a difficult balance to strike between prosecuting evidence and gathering intelligence.

“Whilst the cops always want the collars the spooks want the information and it is a challenge getting the right balance.

“Choudary was certainly clever and knew where the line was, and that was part of the reason it took so long to get him. But it was certainly possible that MI5 wanted to continue to monitor him because he was the focal point of so much,” Geddes told the Telegraph.

“Given how influential he was in terms of setting up the forums for those guys to get inspired, it made perfect sense for the intelligence agencies to say ‘we haven’t exhausted this yet.’

“In the end though he got caught because he believed his press too much and he got carried away by his own media profile."

Choudary faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 6.

Controversial Imam Convicted of Supporting ISIS

Revealed: how Anjem Choudary inspired

at least 100 British jihadis

Counter-terrorism sources say hate preacher is linked to terrorists

from Lee Rigby killer to young Isis fighters

 Anjem Choudary at a rally outside Regent’s Park mosque in central London in April 2015. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent and Jamie Grierson

Anjem Choudary and his extremist groups are believed to have inspired at least 100 people from Britain into terrorism, including organisations committed to campaigns of murder against the west, the Guardian has learned.

Choudary avoided serious criminal charges for years, but his own conviction for terrorism, agreed unanimously by an Old Bailey jury in July, can now be reported after legal restrictions were lifted.

Documents from intelligence sources say his groups were at the heart of the Islamist movement in Britain, which has been left facing a “severe” threat of jihadi attack.

Choudary and an acolyte, Mohammed Rahman, were convicted after they urged support for Islamic State and pledged allegiance to the group.

The conviction represents only a fraction of the jihadi mayhem to which the lawyer is linked.

People connected to Choudary and his groups who turned to terrorism include Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who murdered the soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013. He is also linked to foiled plots to kill in the UK over a decade ago, youngsters who have fled to join Isis in Syria, leaving their families distraught, and the alleged inspiration of violence across Europe.

Choudary and his co-defendant, Mohammed Rahman, 33, told their supporters to obey Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Isis leader, who is also known as a caliph, and travel to Syria to support Isis or “the caliphate”.

On the ninth anniversary of the London terror attacks – 7 July 2014 – Choudary and Rahman posted an oath of allegiance online under their kunyas or Islamic names, Abu Luqman, used by Choudary, and Abu Baraa, used by Rahman, on an extremist website.

Choudary was a key figure for a succession of extremist Islamist groups. He was dismissed as a clown by some, while helping inspire youngsters to turn to terrorism in Britain and Europe, and enjoyed frequent media appearances.

He was a key figure in al-Muhajiroun before it was banned under terrorism legislation and relaunched itself as al-Ghurabaa, which again was banned under terrorism laws. Successor groups in turn were banned under terrorism legislation, such as Islam4Uk and Muslims Against Crusades.

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, said his team had trawled through 20 years of Choudary’s statements to build the case against him. Haydon denied the extremist had been “allowed to run” so intelligence could be gained on the aspirant jihadis he attracted.

Haydon said of Choudary and Rahman: “These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations.

“Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men.”

A conservative estimate is that no less than 100 people from Britain linked to Choudary or his groups have fought or supported violent jihad, according to counter-terrorism sources. The figures were supported by a leftwing anti-extremism group that has studied the influence of al-Muhajiroun and its successor groups.

That number increases on taking into account those in Europe who joined organisations such as Isis after being involved with extremist groups Choudary helped establish or inspire, such as in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Choudary’s influence in Europe was such that the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD assessed him to be a key influence in the spread of the jihadi movement in the Netherlands. A spokesperson for AIVD said it stood by its assessment of Choudary’s central role in the UK first, and then Europe, set out in a 2014 document: “Since the 1980s the UK has harboured an active Islamist movement propagating an anti-democratic, intolerant and sometimes explicitly violent ideology.

“At its heart is the now banned group Islam4UK, previously known as al-Muhajiroun, al-Ghurabaa and Muslims Against Crusades. Its most familiar faces are Omar Bakri (currently resident in Lebanon) and Anjem Choudary, who acts as its spokesman. Modelling itself closely on this British movement, Sharia4Belgium was active in Belgium for several years …”

The spokesperson for Dutch intelligence added that the fact Choudary operated publicly and could “step out of the shadows and into light” was an inspiration for others to do the same.

According to the European law enforcement agency Europol, Sharia4Belgium “engaged in organised indoctrination and recruitment of young people to participate in the armed conflict in Syria”. Choudary praised its leader after more than 40 of its members were convicted of terrorism.

The groups Choudary led were “the single biggest gateway to terrorism in recent British history”, says one study on his activities, details of which are published here for the first time, from the leftwing group Hope Not Hate. It said: “Over the last 15 years he has influenced and inspired over 100 Britons who have carried out or attempted to carry out terrorist attacks at home and abroad.”

According to research from Hope Not Hate, supported by a counter-radicalisation expert who has worked with al-Muhajiroun members, Choudary helped Isis gain British recruits.

Hope Not Hate said: “In the six months following the creation of the Islamic State, Choudary was its biggest cheerleader in the English-speaking world and the network he helped create became the largest recruiter for IS in Europe.”

Choudary’s ability to operate in plain sight, seemingly without legal sanction, raises many questions. Sources in Britain’s Muslim community say Choudary was reported to the police, with some in the UK’s Islamic communities left baffled about how he remained untouched for so long.

Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command had previously attempted to build criminal cases against Choudary, only to be rebuffed by the Crown Prosecution Service, which judged there was insufficient chance of gaining a conviction.

Haydon said of the conviction reported for the first time: “The oath of allegiance [made by Choudary to Isis] was a turning point for the police. At last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported Isis.”

Between August and September 2014, Choudary and Rahman posted speeches on YouTube encouraging support for Isis. An audio clip, lasting one hour and six minutes and uploaded to Choudary’s YouTube channel on 9 September 2014, was played to jurors. Titled How Muslims Assess the Legitimacy of the Caliphate, the speech was played over the image of a map of northern Africa, the Middle East, north-west Asia and southern Europe. Choudary begins by setting out his views about the requirements of a legitimate Islamic caliphate, then explains why he sees Islamic State as meeting the criteria. “The lesson from this narration is that obedience to the caliph is an obligation, if they rule by the sharia. And to obey them obviously means they must be established,” Choudary said.

Estimates of how many people Choudary funnelled into violence range from 100 to 500. Hannah Stuart, of the Henry Jackson Society thinktank, said: “A quarter of all individuals convicted of Islamism-inspired terrorism and terrorism-related offences in the UK since 1999 had direct links with al-Muhajiroun (or its aliases), through public membership, al-Muhajiroun-linked activism or regular attendance at lectures and protests. One in 10 offenders had a proven personal relationship with Choudary in particular.”

British Muslims had complained about the media attention paid to Choudary and the impression given to audiences that he was representative of British Islamic thought.

Miqdaad Versi, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “Mr Anjem Choudary has long been condemned by Muslim organisations and Muslims across the country, who consider him and his support for Daesh [Isis] to be despicable and contrary to the values of Islam and our nation.

“Many Muslims have long been puzzled why this man was regularly approached by the media to give outrageous statements that inflamed Islamophobia.

One expert in counter-radicalisation said Choudary was useful for Isis in the early days, when it was looking to gain traction in the UK. But the likes of him are now needed barely at all because Isis’s reputation in jihadi circles and its online machine has grown so much. “They don’t need a middle man,” said the expert.

Choudary and Rahman will be sentenced next month and face a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Radical UK Preacher Anjem Choudary Charged With Encouraging Support for IS

About 10 years overdue, but at least it's happening

Vice News
By Charlotte Meredith

Anjem Choudary, one of Britain's most prominent radical preachers has been charged with inviting support for Islamic State militants under section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000.

The 48-year-old is due to appear at magistrates court in London on Wednesday, facing a charge of inviting support for a "proscribed organization," or group that is banned within the UK, between June 29, 2014 and March 6 this year, Scotland Yard has revealed.

Choudary and another man, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, have each been charged with one offence. It is alleged the pair publicized support for the Islamic State group (also known as ISIS) through lectures published online, the BBC reported.

The Terrorism Act 2000 says that a person commits an offense if they invite "support for a proscribed organisation, and the support is not, or is not restricted to, the provision of money or other property." If found guilty, a person can face up to 10 years in jail.

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said in a statement: "Following an investigation by the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorism command, we have today authorized charges against Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman.

"Criminal proceedings have now commenced and both men have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."