Displaying items by tag: extremists

British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, 57, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for directing a terrorist organisation. He was convicted of leading al-Muhajiroun, a group banned as a terrorist organisation over a decade ago, and encouraging support for it. 'Organisations such as yours normalise violence in support of an ideological cause,' the judge told him, adding, ‘Such groups embolden individuals to commit acts they might otherwise avoid and disrupt peaceful coexistence.’ Choudary received a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years before parole eligibility, minus the year he has already spent in custody. Once Britain's most prominent Islamist preacher, he had praised the 9/11 attackers and expressed a desire to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque. He was imprisoned in 2016 for supporting IS and released in 2018 after serving half of his sentence. He stood trial with Canadian Khaled Hussein, 29, who was sentenced to five years for membership in a proscribed organisation.

The German defence minister told the armed forces that reported racist and sexual abuse in a German platoon based in Lithuania has put their entire reputation at risk. The most recent incidents were a sexual assault against another soldier, singing anti-Semitic songs, and in April singing songs to mark Hitler’s birthday. There is a pattern of far-right extremism in the army: a soldier allegedly racially abused a non-white fellow soldier, and four German soldiers made animal noises when a black French soldier walked past. Far-right incidents in the elite KSK commando unit triggered calls for it to be disbanded as it had become partly independent of the chain of command. Police seized explosives and weapons at the home of a KSK soldier. Military intelligence said there were almost 600 suspected far-right supporters in the army, the KSK being a particular problem. Twenty members are suspected of right-wing extremism.