Ex-Wexford resident admits he funded Isis
A FORMER Wexford resident has admitted providing funding from his County Waterford base to the Islamic State terrorist organisation.
Hassan Bal, 26, formerly of O’Connell Street in Waterford but in custody since being arrested at his home in April last year, pleaded guilty at the city’s Circuit Court on Friday to two counts relating to the funding and attempting funding of ISIS.
His case was adjourned by Judge Eugene O’Kelly to April 10, when a date will be fixed for the case to be finalised and for Bal to be sentenced.
Bal was in court wearing a blue and white check shirt, green jacket and grey trousers.
He was only called upon to speak when asked to confirm his identity, telling the court: ‘I am, yes.’
He also said ‘guilty’ in reply to each of the two charges put to him.
Bal is originally from the UK and moved to Ireland with his family when he was 12, living initially in Wexford and in Waterford for the past 10 years .
He holds an Irish passport and was training to be an electrician. After he was arrested in April, the district court heard that his wife, who was also born in the UK, was pregnant with the couple’s first child.
Bal pleaded guilty last Friday to unlawfully providing €400 in funds, using an An Post/Western Union money transfer, in Co Waterford on October 2, 2015 to a Stevo Maksimovic.
It was sent to the city of Brako in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the charge reading that he intended or knew that the funds would be used in whole or in part for the benefit or purposes of the terrorist group known as Islamic State or Daesh.
This offence carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, on indictment.
He also pleaded guilty to unlawfully and wilfully attempting to collect or receive cash from a person known to him as Omar Abu Aziz, by means of telephonic communications and an intermediary at an address at 2 Geron Way, London NW2 6GJ , knowing that the funds would be used in whole or in part for the benefit or purposes of Islamic State.
That offence was committed on October 23, 2015.
The offences are contrary to section 13 (3)(a) and section 13 (4) of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act of 2005.
Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, defending, said it was a ‘very unusual case’ and said the sentencing hearing will take up to two hours when it goes ahead.
He handed in a document in relation to a request for an expert on radicalisation, Dr Daniel Koelher of the German Institute of Radicalisation and De-Radicalisaion Studies, to carry out a report in relation to Bal.
He asked that Mr Koelher be given access to interviews with Bal and any associated documents including the Book of Evidence; that the expert provide a report on why Bal became “associated with such activities” and if has since been de-radicalised and whether he does not appear to support “terrorist organisations like Islamic State” any more. ‘He has made it clear he would be providing an expert opinion to the court and is very well aware of his obligations as an expert witness to be fair and clear and to report on the basis of his primary obligations to the court,’ senior counsel said. Judge O’Kelly agreed to extend the legal aid certificate for the defence to enable ‘an expert, independent report on radicalisation,’ pending the defence furnishing the qualifications of the expert they had put forward.
The judge also ordered that the expert report be made available to the prosecution not less than a week before the sentencing hearing. This was agreed by Alex Owens SC, for the State.