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SINGAPORE – A man detained by authorities in 2016 for actively spreading radical ideology online and helping to radicalize at least two Singaporeans was indicted in court for an immigration offense on Thursday (October 8).
Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, 49, who is listed as Australian in court documents, was charged with making a false statement on an online application form for a Singapore passport on December 11, 2013. Zulfikar, listed by authorities as A Singaporean when he was arrested in 2016, he allegedly stated that he had not acquired citizenship of another country at the time of the application, his charge sheet read.
His alleged offense is a crime under the Passport Law.
Zulfikar’s lawyer, Lock Zhi Yong, said his client “will take a certain course” and asked for a guilty plea date to be set in a few weeks. Zulfikar will return to court on October 22.
While in detention, he will not be offered bail, said a prosecutor with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
Speaking through an interpreter, Zulfikar said he thought he would be sentenced today. However, District Judge Adam Nakhoda noted that his lawyer had asked for time.
Zulfikar was detained under the Internal Security Act after his arrest in Singapore in July 2016, the Home Office (MHA) said in a statement issued at the time. He had been granted an arrest warrant for two years after it emerged that he helped radicalize at least two Singaporeans.
MHA then said that Zulfikar has openly shown his support for the Islamic State terror group and has promoted the group and its violent actions in numerous Facebook posts.
In a statement to other media outlets, the MHA said that Zulfikar had been detained under the ISA since July 2016 for his “active promotion of terrorism and glorification of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group online.
“Zulfikar had also exhorted Muslims to reject the constitutional, secular and democratic state in favor of the establishment of an Islamic state governed by the law of Syria. I believed that violence should be used to achieve this goal if necessary, ”MHA noted.
At the time of the arrest, Zulfikar had resettled with his family in Australia in 2002 and had dual citizenship for Singapore and Australia.
While under investigation, he admitted to entering Singapore using his Singapore passport while withholding information about his Australian citizenship.
He also confessed to falsely declaring that he did not have citizenship of another country when he applied to renew his Singapore passport in 2013, as he did not want to give up either of them.
“Since then, Zulfikar has renounced his Singapore citizenship and ceased to be a Singapore citizen as of August 26, 2020,” the MHA said.
Singapore Detained Under ISA For Spreading Radical Ideology Online
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