Two Bangladeshis jailed for terrorism financing

SINGAPORE — The last two of six Bangladeshis who were the first to be charged here for terrorism financing were sentenced to 24 and 30 months’ jail on Tuesday (Aug 30).

It also emerged that the S$1,360 the group had raised included funds from a separate group of 27 Bangladeshis arrested earlier for contemplating armed jihad overseas as well as in their homeland.

Mamun Leakot Ali, 29, and Zzaman Daulat, 34, are among eight Bangladeshis detained under the Internal Security Act in May for forming a clandestine terror cell here called Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), which aimed to overthrow their home government.

Six of these ISB members were subsequently charged under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act — the first since the statute was enacted in 2002.

Mamun, a shipyard welder earning S$800 to S$900 a month, who was also ISB’s deputy leader, had told the group there was a leftover amount of S$500 collected by the previous group of 27 Bangladeshis, the court heard on Tuesday. He asked for the sum to be passed to ISB’s ringleader Mizanur Rahman.

Mamun was sentenced to 30 months’ jail.

Zzaman, who was working as a construction worker earning S$1,300 to S$1,500 a month, contributed S$200 of this amount on March 25 to the ISB leader Rahman Mizanur, 31. He was sentenced to 24 months’ jail.

In sentencing submissions, prosecutors said a strong message must be sent that any and all terrorist financiers will be dealt deterrent sentences to reflect disapprobation for such offences.

“With terrorism being a transnational scourge, the first step towards eradicating it is to cut off its financing lifeblood,” they said.

Previously, Rahman got the heftiest penalty of 60 months’ jail. He had actively solicited for money from his members to wage jihad against those who opposed their plan to bring Bangladesh under IS’ self-declared caliphate.

Miah Rubel, 26, and Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Islam Sowdagar, 30, who both served as treasurers in ISB, were each sentenced to 30 months’ jail. Sohel Hawlader Ismail Hawlader, 29, was jailed for two years. Their jail terms were backdated to May 27, the day they were first brought to court.