MOE teacher, 38, who planned to join militant group in Palestine is first public servant detained under ISA for terror-related offences

SINGAPORE — A 38-year-old teacher who was planning to travel to Gaza in Palestine to join a militant group and fight against the Israeli military was arrested last year under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Mohamed Khairul Riduan Mohamed Sarip, who was a teacher with the Ministry of Education (MOE), was arrested last October by the Internal Security Department (ISD). He was issued a detention order under ISA on Nov 30, ISD said in a press release on Wednesday (Jan 11).

He is the first MOE teacher and public servant to be detained under ISA for terrorism-related offences.

He is also the second person to be detained under the ISA for wanting to carry out armed violence because he was affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

The first was Amirull Ali, who was detained in March 2021 for planning to carry out a knife attack against Jews at the local Maghain Aboth Synagogue, and for planning to travel to Gaza to fight against Israel. 

In response to queries from TODAY, MOE said that Khairul has not been teaching any classes since last October.

Adding that it regards this case "very seriously", the ministry said it will continue to work closely with ISD and the community to safeguard schools and students against such threats.

Previously in 2017, an infant care assistant Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, who worked at the PCF Sparkletots preschool at Tampines Street 32, had been detained under the ISA for making plans to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group. 

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday that there are "fairly thorough background checks" on government employees to uncover radicalist tendencies in people. He added that Khairul's views were developed after he left the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, where he worked previously.

Before Khairul, ISD said it has investigated other public servants for suspected radicalisation, but none of them were "serious enough to be dealt with" under the ISA.

"Some were assessed to be vulnerable or in nascent stages of radicalisation, and they were issued with warnings and sent for religious counselling," ISD said.

HOW HE WAS SELF-RADICALISED

Khairul was self-radicalised and ready to travel to Gaza in Palestine under the guise of humanitarian aid to join Hamas and its military wing, the ISD said.

He had intended to engage in armed conflict against the Israeli military.

Several countries, including Australia, the United States and United Kingdom, have classified Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

ISD said that Khairul took an interest in the conflict from 2007 due to the following reasons:

• He saw Facebook videos on purported Israeli acts of aggression against Palestinians
• He developed "a strong desire" to defend and support the Muslims in Gaza out of sympathy for them
• Videos by radical foreign preachers Ahmed Deedat and Zakir Naik further convinced him of the need to engage in armed conflict to defend Palestinians 

HOW HE ATTEMPTED TO TRAVEL TO GAZA

ISD said that Khairul first considered travelling to Gaza in 2012 after coming across a poster on Facebook calling for volunteers for a humanitarian mission to Gaza. The poster indicated that Hamas and its military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB), were waiting for volunteers. 

• He checked flight and travel routes to Gaza
• He sought advice from foreigners who were based in Gaza or planning to travel there
• He conducted research on Hamas and its operations
• He tried to learn Arabic to communicate with its soldiers

Mr Shanmugam said that Khairul had made "quite detailed plans and (was) quite serious in his thinking".

Although he did not follow through on his intent in 2012, he felt compelled to travel to Gaza whenever the conflict there escalated, said ISD.

However, he did not follow through due to travel restrictions.

In 2014, Khairul's plans to travel to Gaza were scuttled due to Israel closing borders with Gaza. The Covid-19 pandemic also prevented him from travelling in 2021.

The authorities said that since 2012, Khairul had made preparations to travel to Gaza with the aim of establishing contact with Hamas and its military wing.

He was confident of using weapons-handling skills and fieldcraft that he picked up during his National Service from 2004 to 2006 to engage in armed combat. He was also certain of achieving martyrdom if he were to die in the process.

ISD said that he had also attempted to influence his family members and children to hold segregationist and hard-line religious beliefs.

For example, he forbade his children from celebrating birthdays and shared videos of lectures by the religious preacher Zakir on Facebook.

However, Khairul was unsuccessful in his attempts to do so.

There was also no evidence that Khairul tried to influence his students, said Mr Shanmugam. 

WHAT ISD'S INVESTIGATIONS SHOW

ISD's investigations to date showed that he acted alone.

"There was no sign that he tried to involve others in his plans to travel to Gaza to carry out armed violence," said ISD.

There is also no indication that he harboured any intention to carry out attacks in Singapore. 

WHY DID ISD ARREST HIM?

ISD said that it will take firm action against any individual in Singapore "who supports, promotes, undertakes or makes preparations" to undertake armed violence.

"This is particularly so if the person involved in a public servant," they added.

ISD said that in Khairul's case:

• He was convinced that the use of violence against the Israeli military and Muslim "oppressors" was justified
• He was prepared to participate in armed combat against them alongside Hamas and die as a martyr if necessary
• He remained committed to travelling to Gaza if there was another escalation in the conflict there

Given his "deeply entrenched radical beliefs and support for armed violence, Khairul poses an imminent threat", ISD said.

WHAT ISD IS DOING TO COUNTER RADICALISATION IN SCHOOLS

Since 2007, ISD has collaborated with MOE, schools and institutes of higher learning on various counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation outreach activities.

They include:

• Webinars and workshops in 2021 and 2022 for MOE's cluster superintendents and school principals in all primary and secondary schools, and junior colleges
• Workshops in the core programme for MOE school principals as part of a national initiative to pre-emptively address potential threats arising from violent extremism
• Workshops for student counsellors and student welfare officers to train them to identify signs of radicalisation among students