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Singapore hands down first conviction for terror financing
SINGAPORE, Oct 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Singaporean man became the first of
the country’s citizens to be jailed for financing terrorism after he was
convicted of sending money to a radical Islamist preacher.
There have been a steady stream of arrests in Singapore related to support
for Islamist extremism, and the affluent city-state’s leaders have warned it
is a prime target for an attack.
Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman was jailed for two and a half years
for donating Sg$1,146 ($840) to Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, an Islamist
preacher living in Jamaica, according to court documents seen by AFP Friday.
Hussein reached out to Faisal after watching videos on his website and
YouTube channels in which he preached support for the Islamic State (IS)
group.
Faisal was jailed for nine years in Britain in 2003 after calling for the
murders of non-Muslims and was deported to his native Jamaica after serving
four years of his sentence.
Hussein, who was handed a prison term Thursday, was arrested in July 2018
under Singapore’s Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without
trial for up to two years.
He had been radicalised and “wanted to undertake armed violence in Syria
in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” court documents said.
The prosecution recommended jail time to send “a strong message to other
like-minded individuals that supporting terrorist propaganda through
financial means will attract uncompromising punishment”, they said.
In September, authorities detained three Indonesian maids without trial
over allegations they donated funds to support IS. And in July, two
Singaporeans accused of intending to join the jihadists were arrested.
IS lost the last scrap of its self-declared “caliphate” this year but
remains influential. There are fears that foreign fighters returning from the
Middle East could rejuvenate terror networks elsewhere, including in
Southeast Asia.
Most Singaporeans are ethnic Chinese but the country is also home to a
substantial Muslim minority.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1226 hrs