Hate preacher Anjem Choudary’s public speaking ban is lifted

From the Telegraph

A ban on radical preacher Anjem Choudary speaking in public is being lifted on Sunday as licence conditions which were imposed after his release from prison come to an end.

The extremist was jailed five years ago after being convicted of inviting support for the Islamic State terror group, and he left Belmarsh high-security jail on licence in 2018. Choudary, from Ilford in east London, was freed automatically half-way through a five-and-a-half year sentence.

A string of more than 20 strict licence conditions which Choudary has been subject to since his release will expire on Sunday, the PA news agency understands.

…former head of counter-terror policing Mark Rowley previously said Choudary was not “some sort of evil genius”, dismissing him as a “pathetic groomer” during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I think we have to be careful not to overstate his significance,” he added. The men influenced by him are responsible for some of the most notorious terror attacks in recent years – The London Bridge attacks, the Fishmonger’s Hall atack and the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby are mentioned by the Telegraph.

Whether counter-terror police and MI5 will continue to track Choudary or consider him a person of interest has not been confirmed. But ALM (the now-banned group al-Muhajiroun) is expected to remain of considerable interest. From the 1990s, the father-of-five was a prominent figure in ALM, which also operated under a number of other names. Just put his name into our archive  ‘search’ button 2010-2014 and see what you get. Left – I photographed him leading ALM (who at that time were called Muslims against Crusaders) on a Sharia zone march through Leyton and Walthamstow in 2011. 

A senior security source told PA: “Disruptive measures – including jail terms and licence conditions – have had a substantial impact on the ability of ALM to propagate their toxic ideology. While the group cynically preys on vulnerable individuals, its spokespeople have hidden behind their cult-like status while encouraging others to commit acts of violence. The group breeds on propaganda, and should be starved of the oxygen of publicity it relies on to spread hatred.”

The group is only a product of the ideology and the men and women who follow it.