Anjem Choudary, 57, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years in July(Image: PA)

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary appeals over life sentence that could see him die in prison

Choudary, 57, who radicalised Islamist extremists including the killers of soldier Lee Rigby, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years in July for secretly running a banned terror group

by · The Mirror

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary is appealing against the life sentence which could see him die in prison.

Choudary, 57, who radicalised Islamist extremists, including the killers of soldier Lee Rigby, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years in July for secretly running a banned terror group. He has lodged an appeal at the High Court to try to quash the sentence and conviction.

His latest legal battle could last years and reach the European Court of Human Rights. Choudary, of Ilford, East London, was convicted of directing Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), banned in 2006. Woolwich crown court heard he gave online lectures to the Islamic Thinkers Society, the US branch of ALM, which was trying to recruit in North America.

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Former bodyguard Abu Izzadeen said Choudary believes his sentence is 'unfair'( Image: PA)

The court was told Choudary began working with ITS after being released from a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence for inviting support for Islamic State. At his sentencing in the ITS case, Mr Justice Mark Wall said Choudary was “front and centre in running a terror organisation”. The grounds for Choudary’s appeal have not been revealed.

But his former bodyguard Abu Izzadeen, who was jailed for four-and a-half years for inciting terrorism in 2008, said Choudary believed his sentence “was astronomically high”. Izzadeen, who was born Trevor Brooks, told the Mail on Sunday: “I know people in prison who have done double murder and got less than. They sentenced him based on his persona in the media.”

A judge said Choudary was 'front and centre in running a terror organisation'( Image: Getty Images)

Choudary had been a leading member of ALM since it began in late 90s. Officially disbanded in 2004, it survived secretly under new names. He took charge of ALM from 2005 after its then leader Omar Bakri Muhammed fled the UK. Choudary, a lawyer, is accused of ­radicalising a generation of terrorists through ALM, including Michael Adebolajo, 39, and Michael Adebowale, 33.

The pair beheaded Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, outside Woolwich Barracks in 2013. Choudary also radicalised more than a dozen terrorists who went to Syria to join ISIS, including Siddhartha Dhar, 32, who filmed himself shooting a victim dead in a propaganda video in 2016.