British-Pakistani preacher Anjem Choudary has been sentenced to life in prison for directing a terrorist organisation. According to media reports, Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of directing al-Muhajiroun (ALM), which was banned as a terrorist organisation more than a decade ago. Judge Mark Wall announced the life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years before he would be eligible for parole. The judge said at London’s Woolwich Crown Court that organisations such as ALM normalise violence in support of an ideological cause through online meetings. 

Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do. He said, they drive wedges between people who otherwise could and would live together in peaceful coexistence. The police in Britain, the United States and Canada gathered evidence after a joint investigation, that Choudary was running and directing ALM via online lectures with followers based in New York. Prosecutors said the group has operated under many names, including the New York-based Islamic Thinkers Society, which Choudary has spoken to. New York Deputy Police Commissioner Rebecca Weiner, termed the case ‘historic’ and said the Islamic Thinkers Society was ALM’s US branch.