Singapore holds its first female radical

SINGAPORE: Singapore said yesterday it had detained an assistant child-care worker suspected of trying to join Islamic State and to find a militant husband in Syria, and was holding her under a tough security law that allowed for detention without trial.

The detention of the first Singaporean woman for suspected Islamist radicalism comes as concern is growing about the spread of IS in the region. Singapore and its neighbours recently began intelligence co-operation aimed at stemming the movement of militants across their borders.

The suspect, Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, 22, was detained for intending to make her way to Syria to join IS of Iraq and Syria with her child, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

“She supported Isis’s use of violence to establish and defend its self-declared ‘caliphate’, and aspired to live in it,” the ministry said.

Izzah was radicalised by online propaganda with links to IS and she shared pro-Islamic State material on social media.

The ministry added that her family had tried to talk her out of her plans but had not handed her in, and had even destroyed evidence against her.

“She said that since 2015, she was looking for ‘a Salafi or an Isis supporter’ to marry and settle down with him and her child in Syria,” the min- istry said. Her parents, both Qur’anic teachers, and sister came to know of her radical postings in 2015.

After she was placed under investigation, evidence was destroyed by a family member relating to her plans to join IS, in order to try to cover up her acts, it said.

The ministry said the authorities were looking into taking action against the family member who had destroyed evidence. – Reuters