Singaporean jailed for giving money to Islamic State fighter
A Singaporean man was jailed for three years and 10 months on Thursday after giving SGD 1,000 to a Malaysian man who travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State terror group.
Mohamed Kazali Salleh, 51, gave money to Wan Mohd Aquil Wan Zainal Abidin, also known as “Akel”, a known Islamic State fighter, the court documents said.
On Thursday, Kazali pleaded guilty to two charges under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act in a Singapore court. Another charge under the same act was taken into consideration for sentences.
This is the first prosecution in Singapore for financing the travel of an individual to a foreign country to train to become a terrorist, said a report by the Channel News Asia.
At the time of the offences, Kazali was a businessman operating out of Johor Bahru, the southernmost state capital in Peninsular Malaysia and immediate neighbour of Singapore.
The court heard that Kazali befriended Akel in Kuala Lumpur in 2009. During the trip, Akel told Kazali about his religious views, and the pair kept in contact after this encounter, court documents said.
From 2010 to 2013, Kazali met Akel “many times”, and they attended religious sermons and political rallies in Malaysia together, the court heard.
In mid-2013, Akel told Kazali that he intended to travel to Syria for this purpose, and asked Kazali for money for a plane ticket to Turkey, from where he would travel to Syria.
Later that year, Kazali took Akel to a travel agency and passed him 1,000 Malaysian Ringgit (about SGD386 at the time) to purchase the ticket to Turkey.
In January 2014, Akel contacted Kazali via WhatsApp asking for more money for his travel to Syria. Kazali then got his daughter to remit USD351.75 via Western Union to Akel”s contact in Turkey. Kazali told his daughter the money was to purchase carpets.
Akel joined the Islamic State in 2014, the court heard. He took on a leadership role within the organisation three years later.
“Investigations reveal that he was the most senior Malaysian ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) fighter in Syria, and actively recruited Malaysians to fight for ISIS in Syria,” the channel cited court documents.
Akel was also identified by the Malaysian authorities to be responsible for two Islamic State-linked attack plots in Malaysia in 2019.
These plots involved instructing two Malaysian supporters of the Islamic State to mount attacks on places of worship and police stations in Malaysia in early 2019. The plots were foiled.
Akel was killed by a Russian airstrike in Syria in 2019, the court heard.
Source: Outlook India
