NIA court awards 5-year jail to 2 for promoting ISIS terror activities

A special National Investigation Agency court in New Delhi on Thursday sentenced two men to five years imprisonment for promoting activities of proscribed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as Islamic State, in the country.

Abdullah Basith and Abdul Qadir were arrested on August 12, 2018 for their affiliation with the ISIS and for furthering its violent anti-India agenda through the ISIS Abu Dhabi module.

The NIA special court, Delhi sentenced them under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Explosive Substances Act, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

The official said the duo have been jailed for five years and fined Rs 2,000 each.

The NIA had launched its investigations in the case registered on January 28, 2016 on orders from the Union home ministry after details of the serious conspiracy came to light during investigations in another case, the spokesperson said.

The official said the NIA had then discovered a criminal conspiracy hatched by three Indian nationals, namely Sheikh Azhar Al Islam Sattar Sheikh, Mohammed Farhan Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh and Adnan Hussain, all members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. 

"Along with other unknown associates, these three had conspired to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train gullible Indian Muslim youth, both within and outside the country, to initiate them into the planning and execution of terrorist attacks," the spokesperson said.

The official said the NIA had filed a charge sheet against the trio on July 25, 2016. In 2017, all three had pleaded guilty before the NIA special court, which then sentenced them to seven years of imprisonment of life.

The NIA said further investigations into these men's antecedents showed that one Abdullah Basith, an active member of ISIS, was also part of the ISIS Abu Dhabi module.

"He was found engaged in actively propagating the organisation's ideology in furtherance of the larger criminal conspiracy."

Basith had radicalised and motivated vulnerable youth to join the ISIS and collected funds from accused Adnan Hussain and other associates.

"He had even facilitated the visa and passport of radicalised youth with the help of the funds collected. He had also been involved in arranging and managing meetings with his associates to strengthen and expand the ISIS footprint in India," the spokesperson said.

Qadir, the other accused, had come in contact with Basith after watching a television interview in May 2017, the official said, adding, he also then became a part of the conspiracy and supported the activities in promoting the ISIS ideology.

"He openly professed to be a supporter and member of the Islamic State and had attended various meetings of ISIS organised by Basith," the spokesperson said.

The official said supplementary a charge sheet was filed against the two accused on February 7, 2019.