A Singaporean housewife who planned to join the Islamic State (IS) group in the Middle East has been detained without trial under the city-state’s tough security laws, authorities said Thursday.
It was the latest arrest of a Singaporean for allegedly supporting the jihadists or planning to fight with them, with the city-state’s leaders warning it is a prime target for an attack due to its status as a regional financial center.
Munavar Baig Amina Begam, 38, a naturalized Singapore citizen originally from India, was radicalized online by a contact who convinced her the IS group was fighting to defend Sunni Muslims in the conflict zone, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
“She was radicalized to the extent that she was prepared to undergo military training and take up arms to fight for ISIS in the Middle-East if called upon by ISIS to do so,” said the ministry, using another name for the jihadists.
Amina, who also shared IS propaganda on social media, has been detained under the tough Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial for up to two years.
The arrest comes amid attempts by IS to establish a base in Southeast Asia.
A religious school teacher, Abu Thalha bin Samad, was also detained under the act for being a member of Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the ministry said.
JI was behind a series of deadly attacks in the 2000s, including the 2002 Bali bombings, but has not carried out major assaults in recent years.
The 25-year-old Singaporean had been teaching in a JI-linked school outside the city-state. The ministry worked with a regional government to deport Abu Thalha to Singapore before he was detained but did not say which one. JI is mainly active in Indonesia.
The youngest individual detained between September and November is a 19-year-old former full-time National Serviceman who was radicalized through exposure to pro-IS material online.
Before he served as a Logistics Assistant in the Singapore Armed Forces, Adzrul Aziz bin Bajuri had already started watching online videos related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2014 during his secondary school days, and stumbled onto IS-related videos.
Continued exposure resulted in Adzrul considering to fight for ISIS in Syria in the middle of last year. It was only in August this year that the authorities received intelligence on him and made the arrest — but the teen has since started having doubts about the extremist group’s warped ideology. He’ll be required to undergo counseling under the Restriction Order.
Additional reporting by Coconuts Singapore
