Singapore’s first citizen convicted of terror financing

A Singaporean man has become the first citizen of the city-state to be jailed for financing terrorism after he was convicted of sending money to a radical Islamist preacher.

A police vehicle transporting Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman to Singapore's State Courts (Photo:  straitstimes)
A police vehicle transporting Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman to Singapore's State Courts (Photo: straitstimes)
Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman was sentenced a jail term of two and a half years for donating SGD1,146 (US$840) to Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, an Islamist preacher living in Jamaica, AFP reported on October 18, citing court documents.
Hussein reached out to Faisal after watching videos on his website and YouTube channels in which he preached support for the Islamic State (IS) group.
Faisal had been jailed for nine years in Britain in 2003 after calling for the murders of non-Muslims and was deported to his native Jamaica after serving four years of his sentence.
Hussein, who was handed a prison term on October 17, was arrested in July 2018 under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial for up to two years.
He had been radicalised and "wanted to undertake armed violence in Syria in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," the court documents said.
The prosecution recommended jail time to send "a strong message to other like-minded individuals that supporting terrorist propaganda through financial means will attract uncompromising punishment".
Last month, Singaporean authorities detained three Indonesian maids without trial over allegations they donated funds to support IS. In July, two Singaporeans accused of intending to join the jihadists were arrested.
Most Singaporeans are ethnic Chinese but the country is also home to a substantial Muslim minority. There are fears that foreign fighters returning from the Middle East could rejuvenate terror networks elsewhere, including in Southeast Asia.

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