Indian national trained by Islamic State found guilty

An Indian national, trained by Islamic State in Iraq in 2015, was found guilty by a court in Kochi on Friday for hatching a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Governments of India and Iraq.

Subahani Haja Moideen, a Keralite, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2016 following a crackdown in Tamil Nadu with the help of central security agencies and other state police, foiling designs of Islamic State operatives to attack or eliminate certain prominent persons and target places of public importance.

The special NIA court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday.

The court convicted Moideen under IPC Sections 120(B) (Criminal Conspiracy), Section 125 (waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India) andUnlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Section 20 (Punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation).

It also held him guilty under Section 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (Offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation).

According to the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency, Moideen, hailing from Idukki district, intentionally and knowingly became an Islamic State member in April 2015.

To further the activities of Islamic State, he proceeded to Iraq during April-September 2015, joined the terrorist organization and waged war against the Government of Iraq, an Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India.

During custodial interrogation, he had disclosed that he had knowingly and intentionally communicated with co-conspirators in Islamic State within and outside India over online social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram to wage war against the Governments of Iraq and India.

Based on his disclosures, the contents of his email and social media accounts were extracted in the presence of independent witnesses, during custody.