Radical preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for inviting support for the so-called Islamic State group.
(BBC)- The 49-year-old was convicted at the Old Bailey after backing the group in an oath of allegiance published online. Police say Choudary’s followers carried out attacks in the UK and abroad.
The judge, who described Choudary as calculating and dangerous, passed the same sentence on his confidant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33.
Both men were also sentenced to a notification order lasting 15 years, which requires them to tell police if details such as their address change.
The trial heard the pair also used speeches to urge support for IS after it declared a caliphate in the summer of 2014.
Choudary, of Ilford, east London, and Rahman, from Palmers Green, north London, were convicted last month of inviting support for IS – an offence contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015.
Counter-terrorism chiefs blame the preacher and the proscribed organisations which he helped to run, such as al-Muhajiroun, for radicalising young men and women including the killers of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.
But they said they had been unable to act for many years as Choudary – a former solicitor – had stayed “just within the law”.
Sue Hemming, CPS Head of Counter Terrorism said: “Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group responsible for brutal activities and that what they themselves were doing was illegal.
“Those who invite others to support such organisations will be prosecuted and jailed for their crimes.”