Jail term for terrorism activities increased
KOTA KINABALU: The Court of Appeal here yesterday enhanced the jail sentence of a man convicted of committing terrorism activities from eight years to 10 years for each of six convictions.
The three-panel bench chaired by Justice Dato' Mary Lim Thiam Suan, together with Justices Dato' Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, in a unanimous decision allowed the appeal by the prosecution over the inadequate sentences meted to Mohd Firdaus Asren Saputra M S Asren, 37, and maintained that all the jail sentences be served concurrently.
In a unanimous decision, the court found that there was appealable error in respect of the punishment meted by the learned High Court judge in which the eight year sentence on the six charges was manifestly inadequate. The court was of the view that a sentence of 10 years each for all the charges from the date of arrest is adequate and for the jail terms to run concurrently. The respondent (Mohd Firdaus) will only serve 10 years in jail for all the charges instead of 60 years and that the 10 years jail will be counted from the date of his arrest on July 18, 2016.
On November 27, 2017, the High Court here sentenced Mohd Firdaus to 48 years jail for committing the offences. For each of the six charges, the lower court judge imposed an eight year jail term after Mohd Firdaus pleaded guilty and for his jail terms to be served concurrently.
Mohd Firdaus had initially claimed trial to the charges but retracted his plea of not guilty to one of guilty after the prosecution called 13 witnesses to testify against him.
On the first and second charge, Mohd Firdaus admitted to supporting the Islamic State (IS) by making an oath of allegiance, known as bai'ah, and to commit terrorism acts using explosives in a chat group ‘Gagak Hitam' and ‘amanah (phb) vs pas' on social media Telegram, respectively using ‘pejuang tauhid' as his username at a house at Kampung Contoh in Petagas on March 30, 2016 and June 28, 2016.
Both offences were framed under Section 130J (1) (a) and 130 (1) (b) of the Penal Code respectively, and is punishable with imprisonment for a maximum of 30 years and a fine and forfeiture of any property provided or collected or made available, upon conviction.
On the third to the sixth charge, Mohd Firdaus was found to have indirectly provided RM600, on four occasions, to one Bukhori Che Noor via a bank account for terrorism purposes. For these four charges, Mohd Firdaus was convicted under Section 130N (b) of the Penal Code, which is punishable with a jail term of up to 30 years and a fine and forfeiture of any property provided or collected or made available, upon conviction.
The offences took place at bank branches at Karamunsing, in Putatan and at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport here between April 1 and June 30, 2016.
Deputy public prosecutor Nik Shahril Nik Ab Rahman appeared for the appellant and counsel Azhier Farhan Arisin represented Mohd Firdaus.