Two key accused in ISIS Abu Dhabi module case sentenced to 5 years by NIA court

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In an ISIS conspiracy case, which is currently under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), two accused were on Thursday sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined for promoting the banned terrorist outfit's activities in India.

The duo, Abdullah Basith and Abdul Qadir, were arrested on August 12, 2018 for their affiliation with ISIS and for furthering its violent anti-India agenda through the ISIS Abu Dhabi module.

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The NIA Special Court, Delhi on Thursday sentenced them under sections 120B, 201 of IPC, u/s 17,18, 38,39 & 40 of the UA(P) Act and section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act. They have been jailed for 5 years and imposed a fine of Rs 2000 each.

NIA launched its investigations into the case on 28 January 2016 on orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India after details of the serious conspiracy came to light during investigations in another case.

The NIA had then discovered a criminal conspiracy hatched by three Indian nationals, namely Sheikh Azhar Al Islam Sattar Sheikh, Mohammed Farhan Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh and Adnan Hussain, all members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Along with other unknown associates, these three had conspired to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train gullible Indian Muslim youth, both within and outside the country, to initiate them into the planning and execution of terrorist attacks.

NIA had filed a Chargesheet against the trio on 25th July 2016. In 2017, all three had pleaded guilty before the NIA Special Court, which then sentenced them to seven years of imprisonment of life.

Further investigations into these men's antecedents showed that one Abdullah Basith, an active member of ISIS, was also part of the ISIS Abu Dhabi module. He was found engaged in actively propagating the organisation's ideology in furtherance of the larger criminal conspiracy.

He had radicalised and motivated vulnerable youth to join ISIS and collected funds from accused Adnan Hussain and other associates. He had even facilitated the visa and passport of radicalised youth with the help of the funds collected. He had also been involved in arranging and managing meetings with his associates to strengthen and expand the ISIS footprint in India.

Mohammed Abdul Qadeer, the other accused charge sheeted today, had come in contact with Abdullah Basith after watching a television interview in May 2017. He also then became a part of the conspiracy and supported the activities of Abdullah Basith in promoting the ISIS ideology. He openly professed to be a supporter and member of the Islamic State. Mohammed Abdul Qadeer had attended various meetings of ISIS organised by Abdullah Basith.

A supplementary chargesheet was filed against these two accused by NIA on 7th February 2019.

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