In a press release issued on Friday (July 29), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, 44, was arrested and detained, after it was found that he had used social media to propagate and spread his radical messages. He considered his propagation of radical material as a form of jihad, by way of creating awareness of ISIS and promoting armed jihad.
On Facebook, he supported terrorism and the terrorist group ISIS, and made numerous Facebook posts that glorified and promoted ISIS and their violent actions, said the MHA.
In addition, Zulfikar admitted that he wanted his online followers to reject the Western secular democratic nation-state system and establish an Islamic caliphate, governed by Syariah law. The MHA added that he had actively looked into holding training programmes aimed at radicalising young Singaporeans so that they would be persuaded into joining his extremist agenda.
Admitting that he had an ulterior motive for setting up a Facebook page, “Al-Makhazin Singapore”, he used this page to unnerve people on certain Muslim issues in Singapore and attack some Singaporean Muslims who disagreed with him. His real agenda – which he hid from members of that page – was to provoke Singaporean Muslims into pushing for the replacement of the democratic system with an Islamic state in Singapore, said the MHA.
Zulfikar, whom the MHA said had embarked on the path of radicalism as early as 2001, has previously made news here, when he was the head of a fringe group called Fateha.com more than a decade ago. The group made waves in 2002 for alleging that the Singapore Government does not consider the sensitivities of the Muslim community. Zulfikar fled Singapore when he was being investigated for possible criminal defamation. His family has resettled in Australia.
Through his radical postings he influenced two other Singaporeans: Muhammad Shamin Mohamed Sidik, who is already detained under the ISA, and businessman Mohamed Saiddhin Abdullah, 33.
Saiddhin had looked up to Zulfikar, followed his postings and was convinced by the latter’s “positive portrayal of ISIS”. Not only did he repost Zulfikar’s postings, he also emulated him by photographing himself adopting the common pose of jihadi fighters while standing before an ISIS flag, said the MHA.
Saiddhin has been placed under a Restriction Order for two years, which took effect this month. A person under an RO cannot change his residence, employment or travel out of Singapore without official approval. He also cannot issue public statements or join organisations without approval.
Source: TODAY Online
