Anjem Choudary laughing at UK legal system after taxpayers foot £162K bill for failed defence at terror trial
Smug hate preacher and disciple Mohammad Mizanur Rahman were convicted of inciting terror after pledging allegiance to ISIS
HATE preacher Anjem Choudary is laughing at Britain’s legal system after taxpayers footed the £162,000 legal bill for his recent terror trial.
The radical Islamist was convicted of inciting terrorism and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison in September this year.
His sentence – seen by many as unduly lenient – has already caused outrage after it emerged he would serve less than a year for every murderous plot he inspired.
And Sun Online can now reveal that the British taxpayer has footed the colossal six-figure bill for the hate preacher’s failed court defence.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that the Legal Aid Agency has paid out a whopping £97,617 to represent Choudary, 49, during the four week trial at the Old Bailey.
A £63,921 bill for lawyers to represent the fanatic’s disciple and co-defendant Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, was also paid by the government.
The figures add up to a combined cost of nearly £162,000 for the pair, who were both found to have pledged allegiance to ISIS.
And the overall sum is expected to rise even higher - with authorities admitting the full and final claims from the lawyers involved had yet to be received, as of November 23.
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Rahman and his mentor were both eligible to claim legal aid because they were on benefits.
Choudary has been living off the state for two decades, surviving on handouts while he preached against the system that was supporting him.
It previously came to light that the father-of-four was pocketing £25,000 every year from the government – £8,000 more than the take-home pay of some soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan at the time.
In total, the hate preacher is estimated to have received a staggering £500,000 in UK benefits in the over the past 20 years.
And a former police chief recently warned that once Choudary and Rahman are free from prison – which could be in less than three years – there is nothing to stop them from claiming benefits again.
Ex-cop Richard Walton also called for a change in the law after former works and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said he had tried and failed to prevent hate preachers claiming benefits back in 2013.
Dole scroungers Choudary and Rahman were found guilty and jailed after signing an oath of allegiance to ISIS after the terror group declared an Islamic Caliphate in July 2014.
YouTube videos also showed Choudary calling for Islam to achieve “world domination” with the black flag to fly over Downing Street and execution for “kuffar” non-believers.
During the sentencing at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Holyrode asked: “Is it not an anathema to be funded by the liberal Western democracy he so adamantly despises?”
Choudary had escaped justice for the best part of two decades by staying within the law while he did his utmost to inspire a generation of jihadis.
His followers include the butchers of Drummer Lee Rigby and the 7/7 bombers who massacred 52 innocent people and injured more than 1,000 on the London’s public transport network in 2005.
A statement from the Ministry of Justice about Choudary and Rahman's legal aid claims read: “Anyone facing a Crown Court trial is eligible for legal aid, subject to a strict means test.
“Applicants who meet the relevant means thresholds may still be required to pay a significant contribution towards the costs of their defence.
“Depending on their means, applicants for criminal legal aid can be required to pay contributions up to the entire cost of the defence.
“The Government has taken action to reduce legal aid expenditure. It has been reduced by over 20 per cent since 2010.”
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