Ex-undergraduate gets two years' jail for trying to support Daish

A former student of a local public university in Perlis was today sentenced to two years' jail by the High Court, here, after he pleaded guilty to trying to lend support to the IS terrorist group.

Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah passed the sentence on Wan Mohammad Arif Wan Rokman, 24, and ordered the sentence to start from the date of his arrest, Dec 28, 2014.

Wan Mohammad Arif was charged with trying to give support to the IS terror group by taking a Turkish Airlines flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Istanbul, Turkey to become a member of the IS group in Syria.

The marine engineering student was accused of committing the offence in front of gate C15, KLIA international departure hall, about 10.15 pm on Dec 28, 2014.

He was charged under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code and the offence is punishable under Section 130J, which carries life sentence or not exceeding 30 years, or a fine, and forfeiture of assets used or intended to be used in committing the offence.

According to the facts of the case, Wan Mohammad Arif had voiced his intention to his elder brother, ex-fiancee and his friend to join the IS group for jihad and die as a martyr, but they disagreed and advised him to change.

The accused who ignored the advice, then contacted his acquaintances on Facebook to seek their assistance in going to Syria.

On the day of his arrest while he was at KLIA, he informed his ex-fiancee that he had the ticket for a flight to Turkey at 11.30 pm the same day, before the woman sent an SMS text to the accused's father to inform him about the matter.

The father then sought the help of other family members to go find the accused at KLIA, but they failed to meet him before a police report was lodged which led to his arrest at the departure hall.

Judge Azman, in his judgment, said Wan Mohammad Arif's action of going to Syria and asking his campus friends to join him was not only very dangerous for himself but also for the public.

He said the accused left his studies when he was already in third year, besides defying his parents and other family members to go to another country where there was trouble and chaos.

"I am not giving you a religious lecture here but saying that by contributing to your parents, the divine reward is also great, besides bringing blessings to yourself; not leaving your parents to go to that turbulent country (Syria)," said the judge, who also advised the accused not to repeat the action in future.