MUAR: A gardener who had been jailed twice in the past under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) was charged at the Sessions Court today for possession of items and supporting the Islamic State group.
Muhammad Sani Mahdi Saha, 31, who had been charged under Sosma in 2015 and 2017, had three charges read to him by a court interpreter before judge Hakim Irwan Suainbon today.
No plea was recorded because any charge under Sosma is under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
In the first charge, Sani, who is a father of one, supported the IS terrorist group by using a Facebook platform under the name Abu Ibrahim, which was later changed to the name "Oyen Ucuk".
He committed the act at the E8 Division Counter Terrorism Special Branch, Level 24, Menara 2, Bukit Aman federal police headquarters at 9am on Dec 19, 2023.
The offence is under Section 130J(1) of the Penal Code, which could be punished under the same provision with a jail term of up to 40 years or fine, and the property used to commit the offence could be seized.
For the second charge, Sani was in possession of three pictures that were blurred with its caption stating that the person is loyal to Abu Hafsah Al-Hasimi Al-Quroshi, who is the fifth leader in the IS. This was done in the Facebook platform which he owned using the same name.
In the third charge, he was in possession of a programme to commemorate a militant incident related to IS, which stormed an area in Mozambique in 2020, also on the same Facebook platform.
All these were committed at the same location at 8pm on March 26; and at 9.16pm on April 30.
For these latter two charges, he is charged under Section 130JB (1) (a) of the Penal Code , and can be jailed up to seven years and the property used in committing the offence could be seized.
Deputy public prosecutors Shafiq Hasim and Siti Hajar Mar Radzi prosecuted. The accused was represented by lawyer Nurain Sakina Zakri.
The court did not offer bail to the accused and set July 30 for re-mention pending forensic report and application to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
There was tight security at the Muar Court Complex today with checks conducted on every visitor, who also had their information recorded.
In March 2016, the accused who previously taught the Al-Quran, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for being in possession of 30 videos related to terrorism.
Two years later, which was in July 2018, the same court jailed him six years for three counts of being in possession of an item related to the IS terrorist group.