2 years’ jail for radicalised maid who gave S$130 in support of Isis and Indonesian affiliate

SINGAPORE — After meeting three other foreign domestic helpers working in Singapore, Anindia Afiyantari began watching videos of violence and killings perpetrated by the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis).

She posted these videos on multiple Facebook accounts before eventually donating S$130 to an Indonesian-based Isis-affiliated group, the Jemaah Anshaut Daulah (JAD).

On Thursday (March 5), Anindia, 33, was sentenced to two years’ jail in a district court. She pleaded guilty to three charges under the Terrorism (Supression of Financing) Act, with another two charges considered for sentencing.

Anindia was among three maids charged in court last year with terrorism financing. The other two — 36-year-old Retno Hernayani and 31-year-old Turmini — were sentenced to jail terms last month.

They were the first domestic helpers here to be given detention orders under the Internal Security Act in September last year. The orders have been cancelled in light of their court convictions and sentences.

The court heard that Anindia was close friends with Retno and two other Indonesian maids — Yulistika and Nurhasanah, both aged 33.

The latter two left Singapore in May last year before investigations began and have not returned since.

Anindia befriended Yulistika in June 2018 when they were shopping for clothes. Yulistika then introduced her to Retno and Nurhasanah sometime later.

HOW SHE BECAME RADICALISED

As all of them identified with the ideologies of Isis and JAD, the other three maids introduced Anindia to Isis-related Telegram group chats and channels.

Anindia already knew of JAD when she watched a news programme around 2010 about the arrest of radical cleric Abu-Bakar Bashir. The programme was in relation to his involvement in a military training camp in Aceh, Indonesia.

Abu-Bakar Bashir, widely considered to be the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing, was sentenced to 15 years’ jail in 2011 for funding the camp.

When Anindia got to know of the Isis-related chats, she began uploading the information she got from the Telegram platforms onto her Facebook accounts to spread Isis’ ideologies.

These accounts were eventually banned.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo told the court: “She uploaded videos depicting the bombing and killing of people by Isis. Whenever her account was blocked due to her sharing of pro-Isis videos, she would create another account using a different email address.”

Anindia identified with JAD’s use of physical violence against the Indonesian government to establish Islamic law in her home country, and supported suicide bombings as they could kill more “enemies of Islam”.

She became fully radicalised around mid-2018.

DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY ‘DONATED’ MONEY

Around March 10 last year, she met the other three maids in Paya Lebar. They agreed to donate to a purported religious charity, Aseer Cruee Centre, to support family members of JAD members who had died or were imprisoned.

JAD commonly got money for its activities through these “religious charities”, which conducted donation drives publicised through social media platforms.

Retno collected S$20 from each of them and remitted the S$80 to her fiance, Fikri Zulfikar.

Anindia also handed over S$20 to Yulistika that she wanted to donate to another charity, the Anfiqu Centre, in March last year. Both maids had decided to donate this amount every month to support JAD activities.

Yulistika then remitted their cash to the Anfiqu Centre before returning to Indonesia in May last year.

Two months after that, Anindia saw a call for donations on Telegram that contained the details and bank account of a man identified as Al-Fandy Suko Andreanto.

On July 14 last year, she personally remitted S$50 to him, which he thanked her for.

For each charge of terrorism financing, she could have been jailed up to 10 years, fined up to S$500,000 or both.