Singapore Jails Citizen On Terrorist Funding Charges For First Time In History - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2021) A Singaporean court has for the first time in history sentenced a person to three years and ten months in jail for funding terrorism, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

The convict is 51 year old businessman Mohamed Kazali Salleh. He admitted to two charges under the national law on terrorism.

According to materials of the investigation, in 2009 Kazali met a Malaysian national, identified by the newspaper as Akel Zainal. The two befriended each other, and Akel unveiled to Kazali his support for extremist ideology, as well as the intention to go to Syria to become a fighter for Islamic State (IS, a terrorist group, banned in Russia).

In 2013, the businessman transferred some $240 to the Malaysian to help him buy a plane ticket to Turkey on his trip to Syria. In 2014, Kazali sent Akel an additional $351.75 at his request.

Akel joined the radical organization later in the year and took a top post. He is believed to be behind two failed terrorist attacks in Malaysia in 2019. The terrorist was killed the same year by Russian forces in Syria, according to the newspaper.

The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011. In late 2017, IS was declared defeated in Syria and Iraq, but counterterrorism operations are ongoing.