The British-Pakistani preacher was previously jailed in 2016 for encouraging support for ISIS.
British Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary has been sentenced to life in prison for leading a “terrorist organisation”.
Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of leading al-Muhajiroun (ALM), an organisation banned as a “terrorist organisation” more than a decade ago.
Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Tuesday that organisations like ALM “normalise violence in support of an ideological cause” through online meetings.
“Their existence gives individuals who are part of them the courage to do things they would not otherwise do. They drive a wedge between people who could and would like to live together in peace,” he said.
Wall announced a life sentence for the British-Pakistani preacher, with a minimum term of 28 years before he is eligible for parole.
Prosecutor Tom Little said Choudary became the “acting emir” of the ALM after its leader Omar Bakri Mohammed was jailed in Lebanon in 2014.
Choudary’s lawyer, Paul Hynes, argued that the group was “little more than an empty shell of an organisation” and that almost all of the attacks linked to it had already taken place.
British, US and Canadian police conducted a joint investigation and gathered evidence showing that Choudary ran ALM through online conferences with followers based in New York.
Prosecutors said the group operated under many names, including the New York-based Islamic Thinkers Society, with which Choudary spoke.
The Islamic Thinkers Society was the American branch of the ALM, said New York Police Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner, who called the case historic.
Choudary was convicted along with one of his supporters, Khaled Hussein, who prosecutors said was a strong supporter of the group.
Hussein, 29, of Edmonton, Canada, was convicted of membership in a banned organization and sentenced to five years in prison.
The two men were arrested a year ago after Hussein landed at Heathrow Airport.
Choudary was previously jailed in 2016 for encouraging support for ISIS before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.
The ALM group, which emerged in the late 1990s, has been linked to several attacks both domestically and abroad.
