Contractor gets jail for promoting IS

Father of two admits to recruiting members in Kedah for terrorist group

KUALA LUMPUR: A contractor was jailed three years by the High Court here for knowingly encouraging membership in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Justice Nordin Hassan meted out the sentence on Saidin Yaacob, 49, after he admitted to the alternative charge yesterday.

The judge ordered the sentence to run from the date of arrest on July 18 last year.

Saidin was charged with knowingly encouraging IS membership at a house at Lot 3487, Rancangan Pinggir Padang Besar at Jeneri in Sik, Kedah, between January and September 2014 and was accused under Section 130G(b) of the Penal Code.

Justice Nordin, in his judgment, said it was a serious offence as IS activity would cause instability in the country, adding that the court should consider public interest when meting out the sentence to ensure the same offence would not be repeated.

Earlier, Saidin’s counsel Faizal Rahman said that his client came from a poor family and was the seventh child among nine siblings.

Faizal said Saidin was the sole breadwinner of his family, and has a homemaker wife and two grownup children, adding that his client has no previous convictions.

Deputy public prosecutor Noor Syazwani Mohamad Sobry had asked for a deterrent sentence.

Based on the statement of facts, Saidin was arrested at the Special Branch office in Kuala Muda police headquarters in Sungai Petani, Kedah, on July 18 last year on suspicion of being involved in security offence.

Initial investigation showed that from January to September 2014, he had knowingly encouraged membership in IS by showing videos relating to the group to guests who attended dinner receptions at his house.

Based on the guests’ evidence, the twominute video revealed Ustaz Mohd Lotfi Ariffin, a Malaysian, fighting against Bashar AlAssad’s soldiers in Syria, and also showed another Malaysian, Mohamad Fadlan Shahidi, being recruited there.

Saidin was previously charged with knowingly recruiting Ishak Haya and Abdul Halid Dari as members of the group and was accused under Section 130E of the Code.

Meanwhile, a man was produced in a magistrate’s court for possessing 10 videos and six photographs related to IS in his handphone.

Hasbullah Hassan, 37, allegedly committed the offence at the HSBC building compound in Lebuh Ampang here at about 12.20pm on Jan 29 this year and was charged under Section 130JB(1)(a) of the Code.

No plea was recorded and no bail was offered.

Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamarudin fixed April 25 for mention.