Two self-radicalised S’poreans released from ISA detention in July after making ‘good progress’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Investigations showed one of the two had been deeply radicalised by ISIS terrorist ideology and other radical ideologues found online, said MHA in a 2015 statement.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE – Two self-radicalised Singaporeans who were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) were released in July 2023, after showing “good progress” in their rehabilitation, said the Internal Security Department (ISD).
In a Nov 30 statement, the ISD said that Suderman Samikin, 51, and Mustafa Sultan Ali, 60, were assessed to no longer pose a security threat that required preventive detention. Both men were released on restriction orders, which limit their movements and access to the Internet.
Suderman, a former delivery assistant, was detained under the ISA in July 2019.
He had become radicalised in 2013 after encountering lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki – an Al-Qaeda ideologue killed in 2011 by an American drone strike – and propaganda by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in 2019.
By 2014, he had bought into ISIS’ violent ideology, and was prepared to take up arms to fight alongside the terror group in Syria. Among other things, he became acquainted with foreign pro-ISIS elements through Facebook, and offered one of his contacts financial assistance to undertake armed violence in Syria. After he was jailed in July 2014 for drug consumption, Suderman continued to harbour intentions to join ISIS, and was arrested under the ISA upon his release from prison.
Mustafa, the other Singaporean who was released, was detained under the ISA in July 2015 after he was arrested in Turkey and deported. He was the first Singaporean to be arrested abroad for trying to join ISIS.
He had left Singapore for a country in the region in May 2015, and then boarded a flight to Turkey from there in a bid to hide his tracks, said MHA. He planned to cross into Syria via the Turkish border, but was detained by the local authorities.
Investigations showed that Mustafa had been deeply radicalised by the terrorist ideology of ISIS and other radical ideologues he had come across online, said MHA in a 2015 statement. Mustafa also said he was prepared to carry out ISIS-directed terrorist attacks against Western establishments in Singapore.
Separately, ISD said restriction orders against four other Singaporeans were allowed to lapse upon their expiry between March and September 2023 as they had also shown “good progress” in their rehabilitation.
They are:
Mohamed Fairuz Junaidi, 43, who supported ISIS and had considered travelling to Syria to join the group;
Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, 28, who supported ISIS and was prepared to undergo training and engage in armed combat with ISIS in Syria;
Amiruddin Sawir, 60, who was involved in the armed conflict in Yemen when he was studying there between 2013 and 2015; and
Abu Thalha Samad, 32, a former Jemaah Islamiyah member who was detained in September 2017 following his deportation from a regional country.
