Restriction Orders Issued Against Two Singaporeans and Lapse of Restriction Order Under Internal Security Act

Restriction Order against Religious Teacher Murad bin Mohd Said

1.     Singaporean Murad bin Mohd Said (Murad), a 46-year-old freelance religious teacher, was placed on a Restriction Order (RO) under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 5 Dec 2018. [1] Murad’s accreditation under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) had been cancelled by MUIS in May 2018 for his propagation of segregationist ideologies that contravened the ARS Code of Ethics.

2.     A Restriction Order was issued because Murad propagated beliefs promoting violence and views detrimental to the cohesion of Singapore’s multi-racial and multi-religious society. He taught that it was compulsory to kill apostates, defined broadly to include non-believers, Sufis, Shi’ites, and Muslims who have renounced Islam or disregarded texts and rulings from the Quran and Sunnah. He also taught that Muslims were allowed to defend themselves by waging “armed jihad” against “infidels who persecuted them”. Murad also encouraged his students to withdraw from Singapore’s secular society, disregard secular laws and adhere to the rulings of Syariah law instead. Even after his ARS Accreditation was cancelled, Murad continued to propagate his segregationist views online.

3.     Murad’s binary “us versus them” worldview and violent teachings, which he propagated to his students and followers, could have led them to develop extremist views, as well as lead to inter- and intra-faith tensions. His statements on the primacy of Syariah law over secular laws also undermine Singapore’s secular nation-state system.

Restriction Order against Radicalised Singaporean Razali bin Abas

4.     Singaporean Razali bin Abas (Razali), a 56-year-old technician, was arrested under the ISA in Sep 2018. He was found to hold radical views concerning the use of armed violence against the perceived enemies of Islam.

5.     Like many other radicalised individuals, Razali turned to religion after he became disillusioned with his lifestyle. Sometime in 2012, he was introduced to Murad and began attending the latter’s classes. The exclusivist religious teachings he imbibed from the classes rendered him susceptible to the more radical and violent influences he later encountered on social media. Over time, Razali became convinced that it was legitimate to kill those he felt were oppressors of Islam, including non-Muslims and Shi’ites. He began to seek out individuals with militant-looking profiles on Facebook, seeing them as “heroes” who were making sacrifices he could not make himself. Their posts also reinforced his belief in armed violence and his admiration and support for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.

6.     Razali was issued with an RO in Oct 2018 to prevent him from continuing his downward spiral into extremism.

Lapse of Restriction Order

7.     The RO issued against Singaporean Mohd Jauhari bin Abdullah (Jauhari) was allowed to lapse upon its expiry on 14 Sep 2018. Jauhari was a senior member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who was detained in Sep 2002 in the second phase of the Singapore JI arrests.  He was released on RO in Sep 2012.

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[1] A person issued with a RO must abide by several conditions and restrictions. For example, he is not permitted to change his residence or employment, or travel out of Singapore, without the prior approval of the Director ISD. The individual issued with RO also cannot issue public statements, address public meetings or print, distribute, contribute to any publication, hold office in, or be a member of any organisation, association or group without the prior approval of Director ISD.