Bangladeshi construction worker charged with terrorism financing

SINGAPORE — A 27-year-old Bangladeshi construction worker was on Thursday (23 December) charged at the State Courts with terrorism financing — for providing $891 to Syria-based organisations over 15 occasions via online platforms.

Ahmed Faysal started working in Singapore in early 2017 and became radicalised the next year, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a press release. He was attracted to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in Syria, the ministry said.

"In mid-2019, Ahmed Faysal shifted his allegiance to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), another militant group fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in Syria," said MHA. Since mid-2018, the militant group has been designated as a terrorist entity under the United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism and terrorist financing.

The case will be mentioned again next year.

The maximum punishment for terrorism financing is a jail term of up to 10 years along with a fine of up to $500,000.

In its statement, MHA said that if found guilty, Ahmed Faysal, who is being detained under the Internal Security Act, will serve his prison sentence separately from other inmates to prevent him from spreading his radical ideas to them.

The ministry also reminded members of the public not to remit any money or provide any support to terrorist organisations or for terrorist acts.

Anyone with information on such activities should inform the authorities promptly, it added.

Meanwhile, for those seeking to make donations to humanitarian causes, the government's Charity Portal (www.charities.gov.sg) provides information on Safer-Giving, which help ensure that donations are used for genuine charitable purposes.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore