Radical Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary has been found guilty by a British court of supporting the Islamic State group.
Reporting restrictions on a July 28 verdict by London’s Old Bailey court were lifted on Tuesday, which allowed the public to hear about the 49-year-old preacher’s fate. He and a 33-year-old associate, Mizanur Rahman, face up to 10 years in prison for inviting support of a banned organization.
Choudary showed no emotion after a jury of six men and six women found him guilty in late July, the U.K. Telegraph reported Tuesday. Sentencing for the two men will happen sometime in September.
“The evidence now shows that Anjem Choudary is one of the most dangerous men in Britain,” wrote BBC correspondent Dominic Casciani as news of the verdict broke. “Not a bomb-maker. Not a facilitator. But an ideologue, a thinker, who encouraged others not to stop and think for themselves before they turned to violence to implement their shared worldview.”
The radical cleric is mostly known to U.S. audiences for his explosive interviews with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. He also penned an op-ed for USA Today after the Jan. 7, 2015, Charlie Hebdo attack in France that killed 12 at the satirical paper.
“Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone,” Choudary wrote. “Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions are determined by divine revelation and not based on people’s desires.”
Choudary was the co-founder of the now-banned organization al-Muhajiroun. He also served as chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers and was a spokesman for Islam4UK.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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