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Anjem Choudary jailed for five and a half years for drumming up support for IS

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five and a half years for drumming up support for so-called Islamic State (IS).

His supporters in the public gallery of the Old Bailey courtroom shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as Choudary was sentenced.

The British-born 49-year-old backed the terrorist group in a series of talks posted on YouTube, and recognised a caliphate - a symbolic Islamic state - had been created under an IS leader after it was announced In June 2014.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, was jailed for the same period for inviting support for IS between June 29, 2014 and March 6, 2015.

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Choudary finally slipped up, says UK's top prosecutor

Police and prosecutors had long been working to find grounds to convict Anjem Choudary, the Director of Public Prosecutions said today, after the hate preacher was jailed for five-and a half-years.

Alison Saunders said the CPS were "very pleased" they had finally been able to prosecute Choudary after he publicly supported so-called Islamic State.

"Prosecutors have been looking and working with the police for a long time to make sure that we were able to bring him to justice," she told ITV News.

Anjem Choudary has been very careful to walk a line where he didn't cross over into offences - until recently - until the home secretary proscribed Daesh as a terrorist organisation.

What's very clear is that he has been encouraging others to join a terrorist organisation that commits atrocities and really we are very pleased that we have been able to prosecute.

– Alison Saunders
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Anjem Choudary jailed for five and a half years for drumming up support for IS

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