by Ganesh Sahathevan
Zulfikar Shariff, who gained notoriety in Australia for his work with Al-Qaeda's financiers has been re-settled in Melbourne after being released from detention in Singapore, where he had been held for supporting ISIS.
His presence came to light after the publication of an article he wrote critical of the Singapore Government, which describes the author in these words:
Zulfikar Shariff lives in Australia and writes about Islam, politics and international relations. He writes at www.fitrahmedia.com
He is also active on Twitter, posting news out of Melbourne.
The Singapore Government's Ministry Of Home Affairs issued a press statement about his ISIS activities which led to his detention. A copy of the relevant part is provided below.
TO BE READ WITh
DETENTION & RELEASES UNDER THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
Order of Detention Issued against Zulfikar Shariff
Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff (Zulfikar; Singaporean; aged 44), was
arrested in Singapore and subsequently detained under the Internal Security
Act (ISA) in Jul 2016 for terrorism-related activities. Zulfikar had embarked on
the path of radicalism as early as 2001 after reading jihadi-related material.
He was supportive of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Jemaah
Islamiyah, and advocated Muslims taking up arms in Afghanistan after the 11
Sep 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.
2 Zulfikar resettled his family in Australia in 2002. While in Australia,
he continued to pursue radical ideology by joining the hardline Hizbut Tahrir
organisation. He was also influenced by the teachings of radical ideologues
like Anwar al-Awlaki. He established and maintained contact with radical
preachers in Australia and overseas, like Musa Cerantonio and Anjem
Choudary. Zulfikar has supported terrorism and the terrorist group that calls
itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He made numerous Facebook
postings glorifying and promoting ISIS and their violent actions, while
exploiting religion to legitimise the terrorist activities of ISIS. He has further
exhorted Muslims to take up arms and wage militant jihad in places like the
Middle East, Palestinian territories, Myanmar and the Philippines. To motivate
Muslims to engage in armed jihad, Zulfikar proposed the creation of a support
system for the families of the fighters.
3 Zulfikar has made use of social media to propagate and spread his
radical messages. He considered his propagation of radical material as a
form of jihad, by way of creating awareness of ISIS and promoting armed
jihad. Zulfikar has contributed to the radicalisation of at least two other
Singaporeans. One of them was Muhammad Shamin bin Mohamed Sidik
(detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities). The other was
Mohamed Saiddhin bin Abdullah, who was inspired by Zulfikar’s radical
postings. This included a photograph of Zulfikar with his children mimicking a
pose commonly adopted by jihadi fighters1
, while standing in front of a black
flag that is commonly used by jihadi terrorist groups. (See enclosed.)
4 Zulfikar admitted that besides his intention to promote ISIS and
armed jihad, he also wanted his online followers to reject the Western secular
democratic nation-state system and instead establish an Islamic caliphate in
its place, governed by Syariah law. He believes that violence should be used
to achieve this goal if necessary. To this end, Zulfikar had actively looked into
holding training programmes aimed at radicalising young Singaporeans so
that they would be persuaded into joining his extremist agenda. It was also for
the objective of realising the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate that
he set up an online group called “Al-Makhazin” in 2013, and other “Al-
Makhazin” Facebook platforms for Muslims to counter the Western media,
while residing in Australia. Zulfikar has admitted that he had an ulterior motive
for setting up a Facebook page called “Al-Makhazin Singapore” which he used
as a platform to agitate on Muslim issues in Singapore and attack some
Singaporean Muslims who did not share his views. His real agenda was in
fact to provoke Muslims in Singapore into pushing for the replacement of the
democratic system with an Islamic state in Singapore. He said that he hid his
ulterior motive from the Singaporean “Al-Makhazin Singapore” members.
5 In view of the high level of the terrorism threat that Singapore
currently faces, and the global terrorism threat posed by ISIS, Zulfikar’s
promotion of violence and ISIS and his radicalising influence pose a security
threat to Singapore. At times he has tried to hide his real motivations, by
putting out moderate sounding views. But in reality, he believes in the use of
violence to overthrow the democratic system of government, and the
imposition of an Islamic caliphate. He continues to support ISIS, and wants
Singaporeans to do the same. The Government takes a very serious view of
efforts to undermine Singapore’s constitutional democracy, and will take firm
and decisive action against any person who engages in such activities. He
has been served with an Order of Detention (OD) for a period of two years.
(raising of the index finger symbolises the tauhid i.e. the concept of monotheism in Islam.
The index finger is a physical expression of the Islamic belief in the oneness of Allah.)
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