Lorry driver gets 16 years jail for involvement with militant group

A lorry driver was sentenced to 16 years' jail by the High Court here today after he pleaded guilty to four charges which included providing support to a militant group, taking orders from terrorist Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi and being in possession of terrorist-related images and videos.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Rahman sentenced Syed Amir Asyraf Syed Hamdan, 21, to 10 years imprisonment for the first charge, 16 years' jail for the second charge and five years in prison each for the third and fourth charges.

The court ordered all the sentences to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on Aug 27, 2016.

In his judgment, Ab Karim hoped the sentence would serve as a lesson to the accused and the public so that the acts would not be repeated in the future.

On the first count, Syed Amir was charged with knowingly providing support to Daish militant group by using a Facebook account under the name of Abu Syed Malizi which was written in Jawi.

On the second charge, he was charged with using the Telegram application under the name of Abu Syed Malizi to receive instructions from Muhammad Wanndy to commit a terrorist act using a hand grenade, a pistol and 24 live bullets.

On the third count he was charged with being in possession of images and videos related to acts of terrorism and Daish militant group.

He was also charged with knowingly getting involved in committing terrorist attacks through his conversation in 'WeChat' under the name of Abu Syed Malizi .

Earlier, counsel Azamuddin Abd Aziz representing Syed Amir, appealed to the court to impose a light sentence as his client was still young and immature and had been influenced by Muhammad Wanndy.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Izhanudin Alias however urged for a deterrent sentence against the accused to serve as a lesson to him and others. -- Bernama