[AnNahar] Four Bangladeshi guest workers who pleaded guilty to raising finances for an alleged Islamist terrorist plot in their homeland were convicted by a Singapore court on Tuesday and could face up to 10 years in jail.
The men, aged 26 to 31, were brought to court in three armored vehicles and became the first to be prosecuted under a Singapore law specifically targeting terrorism financing.
They will be sentenced at a later date.
In court, the men were dressed in purple overalls with the word "detainee" emblazoned across their chests and backs, shackled at the hands and feet and closely watched by members of the elite Gurkha unit of the Singapore police.
Court documents said the men contributed, collected or possessed funds for the alleged plot ranging from Sg$60 ($44) to Sg$1,360.
For involvement in terrorist financing, the men face up to 10 years in jail, a maximum fine of Sg$500,000 ($362,000), or both.
Singapore, which depends heavily on Bangladeshis and other foreign workers in the construction sector, considers itself a potential target of murderous Moslems because of its strong military ties with the United States.
It was the second group of Bangladeshis rounded up in Singapore since 27 were jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in late 2015, also over alleged plots in their homeland. All have since been deported.
State prosecutors say the second group's leader Rahman Mizanur, 31, had repeatedly tried to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group but was unsuccessful because he could not get visas to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... or Algeria. He then went to Singapore as a construction worker.
A fifth worker, Zzaman Daulat, 34, pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." , along with a sixth man, and both will now go to trial.
"I know I contributed $200 but I didn't know it'll be used for terrorism," Zzamat said through a court interpreter.
The five were among eight Bangladeshis held since April under Singapore's tough Internal Security Act.
Items seized from them included manuals on bomb-making and how to use a 0.50 calibre sniper rifle, along with a list of Bangladesh government and military officials allegedly targeted for attack, Singapore's home affairs ministry said.
The Singapore convictions come amid growing concern in Bangladesh over an increase in attacks on liberals and religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation.
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Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
