Life sentence for Anjem Choudary in wake of Metropolitan Police investigation

The joint Metropolitan Police Service and MI5 investigation into Choudary was assisted by the New York City Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

After a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Choudary (aged 58, of East London) was found guilty on 23 July of directing a terrorist organisation, membership of a proscribed organisation and encouraging support for a terrorist organisation. On 30 July at the same court, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 28 years (less time already served on remand).

Choudary will also be subject to notification requirements for 30 years.

Khaleed Hussein, aged 29 (of Edmonton, Canada), was also found guilty of membership of a proscribed organisation. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with an additional year on licence and will be subject to notification requirements for 15 years.

After passing the sentences, the presiding Judge commended officers in the UK, US and Canada for their work on this investigation.

Strong case

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “These convictions come as a result of some truly remarkable work, not only here in the UK by counter-terrorism police and our colleagues in MI5, but also due to the incredibly brave work of undercover officers in the US and Canada.”

Murphy continued: “The information and evidence we were able to gather, all while working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, meant that we were able to build a very strong case to prove Choudary was directing the Al-Muhajiroun terrorist group and encouraging others to join them. I have no doubt that these convictions, and the resulting sentences, have left communities here in London, and also right across the UK and beyond, much safer as a result.”

Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland, regional commander for the North West Region at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, observed: “This investigation is an example of how information, intelligence sharing and collaboration between countries is vital in stopping the spread of online extremism and radicalisation. It serves as a reminder that extremism can take hold anywhere and that we must all remain vigilant.”

Rebecca Ulam Weiner, the New York City Police Department’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism, noted: “Anjem Choudary spent decades radicalising individuals around the world and has now been brought to justice thanks to relentless collaboration across multiple agencies and countries. In today’s borderless world, public safety demands the level of teamwork that defined this historic investigation. The New York City Police Department is deeply grateful to our partners at Counter Terrorism Policing, MI5 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for their tireless efforts that brought this case to its successful conclusion.”

Background to the convictions

In July 2021, licence conditions linked to Choudary’s previous terrorism conviction in 2016 expired. Officers became increasingly concerned that he would re-engage with terrorist activity.

The investigation into Choudary culminated in his arrest almost two years later. It was thanks to information provided to Counter Terrorism Command by colleagues from the New York City Police Department and then also the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that detectives in London were able to piece together evidence that Choudary was running and directing what was in-effect the banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun via online lectures with followers based in New York.

Counter Terrorism Command detectives were alerted to the fact Choudary was becoming involved in a group called the ‘Islamic Thinkers Society’ when the New York City Police Department contacted them in late 2021 in relation to an undercover investigation they were carrying out into ITS.

Detectives here worked closely with colleagues from the New York City Police Department to build a picture of the group and identify how Choudary was becoming increasingly involved.

In May 2022, Counter Terrorism Command detectives were further contacted by colleagues in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who were also investigating a Canadian called Khaled Hussein. An undercover officer from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was in touch with Hussein and had identified a further connection between Hussein and Choudary in London.

Evidence from Canada showed how Hussein was effectively acting as a personal assistant to Choudary. Hussein helped Choudary host online lectures with other extremists and edited extremist online blogs and publications for Choudary. Over the succeeding months, information, intelligence and evidence was gathered together by the investigation team, which built a picture that the ITS group in New York was a continuation and extension of the proscribed terrorist organisation Al-Muhajiroun.

Crucial evidence

Crucial evidence was identified from both New York City Police Department and Royal Canadian Mounted Police undercover officers, which confirmed the explicit link between Al-Muhajiroun and ITS. In one voice note sent to the Canadian officer, Hussein described ITS as “being Al-Muhajiroun”. Evidence from the New York City Police Department officers also showed how Choudary was hosting and running lectures for the ITS group via encrypted platforms.

In the meantime, police officers and MI5 officials continued to gather other intelligence and evidence here in the UK and officers also travelled to the US and Canada to ensure key evidence could be secured for use in the UK.

In total, officers trawled through hundreds of hours’ worth of of audio and video content and assessed upwards of 16,000 documents, working through more than a decade’s worth of material in order to identify and prove the links between Al-Muhajiroun, ITS and Choudary.

Among the audio content were covert recordings from Choudary’s address, where he was heard having conversations with his wife about being involved in Al-Muhajiroun activity, and also captured a conversation between Choudary and Omar Bakri Muhammad (the former leader of Al-Muhajiroun).

Bakri and Choudary discussed the activities of various individuals who had former links to Al-Muhajiroun. Crucially, Choudary also confirmed during one conversation that he had taken the role of leading Al-Muhajiroun as its “caretaker emir” back in 2014, while Bakri had been imprisoned for terrorism offences in Lebanon.

Evidence gathered by the investigation team also showed how, over the past decade, the Al-Muhajiroun group had encouraged and assisted various people in joining and fighting for Daesh and that Choudary was now seeking to influence and radicalise a new generation of extremists and encourage them to go and support terrorist causes around the world.

In July last year, UK detectives became aware via the undercover Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer that Hussein planned to visit Choudary in London. Officers then moved to arrest the pair. Hussein was arrested on 17 July 2023 as he arrived on a flight into London from Canada. Choudary had been arrested earlier that morning.

With more enquiries conducted while they were in police custody, the pair were charged on 23 July 2023. They were subsequently found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court and sentenced as above.