Two Singaporeans, one a woman, detained under ISA for terror-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.

One of them, Abu Thalha Samad, 25, is a member of terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement on Thursday.

The Ministry said he 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 Abu Thalha back to Singapore, where he was issued a two-year detention order in September.

The Ministry declined to disclosed the country where he was, but it is understood the JI terror group is active in Indonesia.

The second Singaporean is a 38-year-old housewife, Munavar Baig Amina Begam, a naturalised citizen from India.

The Ministry said she was a supporter of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group, and had intended to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS."Amina was radicalised by a foreign online contact, who shared with her pro-ISIS materials, and convinced her that ISIS was fighting to defend Sunnis in the conflict zone," said the Ministry, adding that she was prepared to undergo military training and take up arms and fight for ISIS.

Amina, who was detained for two years this month, had also influenced others by sharing materials promoting terrorism on social media.

She is the second woman to be detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities.

The first was infantcare assistant Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, 22, who was arrested in June. She had planned to travel to Syria to be a "martyr's widow".

Another Singaporean, former full-time National Serviceman Adzrul Azizi Bajuri has been issued a restriction order after he was radicalised to ISIS propaganda online.

The order limits the 19-year-old's activities and requires him to undergo religious counselling.

The Ministry said he had come across ISIS-related videos in 2014 when watching videos related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Although he had considered fighting for the group, he started "having some doubts about the legitimacy of ISIS ideology and its violent tactics" in August this year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry also said a separate restriction order against former Moro Islamic Liberation Front member Mustafa Kamal Mohammad had been allowed to lapse in September, as the 62-year-old had been rehabilitated.

THE STRAITS TIMES