SINGAPORE: Two senior members of the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organisation have been detained under the
Internal Security Act (ISA) for involvement in terrorism-related
activities.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Thursday
that it issued Orders of Detention (ODs) against Abd Rahim Abdul
Rahman in March this year and Husaini Ismail in June this
year.
MHA said the two had undergone terrorist training in
Afghanistan with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation in
1999/2000.
They had also been actively involved in observing several potential
local and foreign targets in Singapore for a terrorist
attack.
Both men fled Singapore in December 2001 soon after the start of
the security operation against the JI and took refuge
overseas.
While on the run, Husaini was involved in a plot - led by Singapore
JI leader Mas Selamat Kastari - to hijack an airplane bound for
Singapore and crash it into Changi Airport in January 2002 to
retaliate against the disruption of the Singapore JI network.
Abd Rahim was arrested in Malaysia in February this year and was
deported to Singapore.
Husaini was arrested in Indonesia in June 2009 and was jailed for
immigration offences.
He was deported to Singapore after he had served his jail term, in
May 2012.
The ministry also announced that three individuals were released
from detention between March and September 2012.
JI member Rijal Yadri Jumari, who was detained under the ISA in
March 2008, was released on 20 March this year.
He was a member of the JI's "Al-Ghuraba" cell in Pakistan that
comprised young JI members who were being groomed to be operatives
and future JI leaders.
Mohd Jauhari Abdullah, a senior JI member detained in September
2002 in the second phase of the Singapore JI arrests, was released
on 15 September this year.
Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid, a self-radicalised youth who intended
to wage armed jihad in Afghanistan and die as a martyr on the
battlefield, was detained under the ISA in April 2010 and released
on 4 April 2012.
The Restriction Orders (ROs) against 17 JI members were allowed to
lapse between March and September this year, as they had been
cooperative and responsive to rehabilitation efforts and no longer
required further supervision under the RO regime.
-CNA/ir/ac
