The extremist preacher was found guilty last week of leading a terrorist organisation following a complex operation involving detectives and investigators in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Judge Wall said Choudary’s group was a radical organisation whose aim was to spread Sharia law, by violent means, throughout as much of the world as possible.
Choudary, one of the UK’s most prominent radicalisers, was arrested after an international undercover investigation proved that the long-banned al-Muhajiroun network he led was still operating in 2021 – and trying to recruit new followers under a false name in North America.
Al-Muhajiroun, which emerged in the late 1990s, has been linked to dozens of acts of terrorism, with its followers committing acts of violence both at home and abroad.
Choudary has been at the heart of the organization since its inception and became its leader in 2014 after its founder was imprisoned in Lebanon.
The 57-year-old’s imprisonment is linked to his attempts to redevelop the network in 2021, after he was released from a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for urging his followers to support Islamic State fighters in Syria.
After being released from that sentence, Choudary began giving online lectures to followers across North America.
But he was unaware that his online discussions promoting jihadist ideology had been infiltrated by undercover agents from Canadian and American security services.
Judge Wall said that in around 30 lectures, Choduary encouraged members of the “Society of Islamic Thinkers” – the code name for the al-Muhajiroun network – to engage in confrontational street preaching and commit acts of violence.
“You have barely disguised these exhortations as lessons in Islamic theology,” the judge said, adding that Choudary knew that members of the organisation would commit acts of violence whether he was personally involved or not.
“Organizations like yours normalize violence in the name of an ideological cause,” the judge said.
“They are sowing discord between people who would otherwise live together in peace. Your behavior is of the utmost culpability.”
Regarding the group’s history, the judge said Choudary’s supporters included Siddhartha Dhar, a key lieutenant, who joined the Islamic State group in Syria and murdered its captives.
More recently, in 2023, two brothers from Birmingham were jailed after confessing to planning to join the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group. One of them, Muhammad Hamza Heyder Khan, had specifically described Choudary as an inspiration.
“I am sure you will continue to preach your message of hate and division in the future, you are not someone who can be diverted from that path,” the judge said.
“The dangers you pose lie in your organizational skills and your talents as a speaker. I cannot foresee at this time a time when you will cease to be dangerous.”
Choudary’s co-defendant, Canadian Khaled Hussein, convicted of being a member of al-Muhajiroun, was sentenced to five years in prison, with an additional year of supervised release after his release.
Earlier in the hearing, Paul Hynes KC, for Choudary, argued that whatever the jury’s verdict, al-Muhajiroun had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or Islamic State.
“We end up with dense theology courses that are not particularly accessible,” he said.
“We do not believe that the court is in a position to conclude that Mr. Choudary was a mass rallying organization. It was an organization that failed.”
