Two S’poreans held under ISA

Housewife among duo detained for terrorism-related activities

SINGAPORE: Two Singaporeans have been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for terrorism-related activities, the latest in a trickle of such arrests here.

They are Abu Thalha Samad, 25, a member of terror group Jemaah Islamiah ( JI), and housewife Munavar Baig Amina Begam, a 38-year-old naturalised citizen from India, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement yesterday.

The ministry said Abu Thalha had been educated in JI-linked schools in the region, where he also received paramilitary training.

In 2014, he took an oath of allegiance and became a JI member.

“He understood it to mean that he was duty-bound to carry out whatever instructions the JI leaders had for him, including performing armed jihad and sacrificing his life for the JI’s violent cause,” the ministry said. Since 2016, he had been teaching at a JI-linked school.

But in August this year, the ministry said it worked with a “regional government” to deport him back to Singapore, where he was issued a two-year detention order in September.

As for Amina, the ministry said she was a supporter of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (IS) terror group, and had intended to travel to the Middle East to join IS.

“Amina was radicalised by a foreign online contact, who shared with her pro-IS materials, and convinced her that IS was fighting to defend Sunnis in the conflict zone,” said the Ministry.

It also said she was prepared to undergo military training and take up arms and fight for IS. Amina, who was detained for two years this month, had also influenced others by sharing materials promoting terrorism on social media.

Meanwhile, a third Singaporean, Adzrul Azizi Bajuri, has been issued a restriction order after he was radicalised by IS propaganda online.

The order limits the activities of the 19-year-old, a former full-time national serviceman, and requires him to undergo religious counselling.