Britain's most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary is finally behind bars after being convicted of inviting his followers to support Islamic State terrorists.

The 49-year-old lawyer turned radical cleric has for two decades been the spiritual guide for UK extremists including Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo, Isis executioner Siddhartha Dhar, and hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Through his organisations, Muslim4UK and Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), Choudary has been a constant thorn in the side of British authorities, defending terrorist atrocities while promoting an ideology of hate.

Choudary has played a "significant" role in recruiting Muslims to the extremist cause, police say, inspiring many of the 850 Brits who have headed to Syria since the establishment of the so-called Islamic State.

But the father-of-five is now behind bars and facing up to ten years in jail after being found guilty at an Old Bailey trial of inviting his followers to support Islamic State.

Choudary, convicted alongside his trusted lieutenant Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, swore allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when he declared the IS occupation of Iraq and Syria a "caliphate".

While IS terrorists were executing innocent prisoners, Choudary and Rahman were posting YouTube videos of extremist lectures and used social media to urge others to follow.



Met Commander Dean Haydon said detectives had trawled through 20 years of material amassed on Choudary and Rahman, but it was only after they swore allegiance to ISIS that they could be brought to justice.



"Choudary is very clever and tried to live within the law", he said. "We haven't had evidence to present to a court before that was suitable for prosecution.

"The oath was the key piece of evidence that took him over a line to a criminal offence."



The trial focused on the days in June and July 2014 when ISIS leader al-Baghdadi declared occupied territory in Iraq and Syria as an Islamic Caliphate.

Dhar, who later travelled to join Islamic State and became one of its notorious executioners, urged Choudary to swear the oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi to encourage other British Muslims to follow suit.



"U should tweet...I think a lot of muslims are excited. The Islamic verdict would be good from u", said Dhar, telling him his support for IS would be "gold on Twitter".

Choudary and Rahman both signed the oath and published it online on July 7, 2014, nine years to the day since Islamic extremists carried out the devastating 7/7 bombings in London.



Choudary was in contact with Lebanon-based terrorist Omar Bakri Mohammed and another extremist ally, Mohammed Fachry, in Indonesia in the days before the oath was published.



Bakri Mohammed, who once praised the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers and said he wanted his son to grow up to be like Michael Adebolajo, helped set up Al-Muhajiroun with Choudary.



During the trial, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC showed jurors examples of Choudary and Rahman professing their hate ideology in demonstrations, speeches, YouTube videos and messages to their thousands of Twitter followers.



Choudary dreamed of turning Buckingham Palace into a mosque and imposing Sharia Law in the UK, saying in a lecture in 2013: "Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says, what do you want when you grow up, what is your ambition, they should say to dominate the whole world of Islam, including Britain.



"That's my ambition."



Choudary, Dhar, and Rahman were pictured together in a protest outside the Lebanese Embassy in April 2014 holding signs saying: "Islamic State Is Solution" - spelling out ISIS with the first letter of each word.



"The defendants sought to validate the legitimacy of both the Caliphate and the Caliph and in doing so emphasised the obligation on others to obey or provide support to ISIS and Baghdadi", said Mr Whittam.



Choudary has links to recently convicted terrorists including Brustholm Ziamani and Junead Khan, both jailed for plotting Lee Rigby style executions on British soil.



But during his trial he tried to explain away his online posts and speeches as discussions of a theoretical Islamic state, rather than the actual terrorist organisation established in Iraq and Syria.

A jury deliberated for two-and-a-half days before returning guilty verdicts on both Choudary, of Hampton Road, Ilford, Essex and Rahman, of Newbold Cottages, Sidney Street, Whitechapel, east London, for inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation.



The convictions, on July 28, could not be reported until now because five men from Luton with links to Choudary were on trial in the same building.



Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Holroyde told the pair they would both be jailed when sentenced on September 2 and denied them bail, saying: "It's true you have complied with the conditions of your bail, but I'm afraid however, it's been an evidently grudging compliance and you have made your disregard for the court and its processes abundantly plain throughout the proceedings."

It can also now be reported that Choudary breached his bail while awaiting trial, when he was caught meeting an associate in the street in breach of a ban.



Following convictions, Commander Haydon said he believes 850 Brits have travelled to join ISIS, and emphasised the "key" role of recruiters like Choudary and Rahman.



"It's very difficult for me to say all these individuals are at the hands of Anjem Choudary", he said.



"But we have a key individual here in the UK posting a vast amount of social media material being used to radicalise individuals in the UK, and part of the material encourages people to travel to Syria.

"That's why I think Choudary and Rahman are so significant - they were posting material online, it was being without a doubt viewed by others and probably encouraged some to travel to Syria."

He added that Choudary, who had for so long dodged the law, had not made a "mistake" by signing the oath of allegiance to ISIS, but had no choice as it was a logic conclusion of his beliefs which had been repeated in public for so many years.

Choudary and Rahman both have previous convictions relating to the 2006 protests outside the Danish embassy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.



Choudary was convicted of organising a procession without giving prior notice to the police, while Rahman was jailed for six years for soliciting murder at the protest.