Two residents of Coimbatore were convicted by a National Investigation Agency court here on Saturday of recruiting members and spreading the ideology of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, according to police. Shiek Hidayathulla, also known as Firoz Khan, of South Ukkadam and Muhammad Azharudeen of Anbu Nagar, Ukkadam, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu were found guilty by the Special Court for Trial of NIA Cases, Kochi.
Both were found guilty by Judge N Seshadrinathan of offenses covered by sections 120B of the Indian Penal Code and 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities Act. Both defendants asked the court to adopt a lenient stance throughout the sentencing hearing, pointing to their familial histories. 40 witnesses were questioned by the court during the trial.
In a another instance involving an explosion in Coimbatore, Azharudeen is also charged. In 2019, the NIA filed a charge sheet against two of the six people identified as defendants in the FIR. After learning that Azharudeen and his associates were spreading the ideology of the outlawed terrorist group ISIS in order to recruit young people who were at risk of carrying out terrorist attacks in South India, specifically in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the NIA filed the case in 2018.
According to an earlier NIA report submitted to the court, Azharudeen participated in a number of the organization’s events and was connected to Wahadath-e-Islami, a frontal organization of Jamaath-e-Islami Hind. In 2013, he was appointed district leader of Wahadath-e-Islami in Coimbatore and began giving bayans at its events, including those held at Rayan Mosque.
“The accused Muhammad Azharudeen and Shiek Hidayathulla were radicalised through material accessed online on extreme Salfi Islamic ideology since 2016 onwards and the accused used to watch speeches of radical speakers like Anwar-Al-Awlaki, Abu Bara, Moosa Cerantonio, Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka and others,” according to the report.
The report claims that they also downloaded such content to their electronic devices and shared it with their colleagues. “Azharudeen was in touch with many Sri Lankan individuals and entities through Facebook and other encrypted social media,” according to the NIA.
According to the report, the accused’s digital devices and social media accounts contained speeches and other documents that were forensically recovered and attributed to Zahran Hashim, the commander of ISIS in Sri Lanka. They promoted ISIS activities in South India from 2017 to March 2019.
According to the NIA, since 2017, the accused have traveled throughout Kerala, met with their associates there, and expressed their support for ISIS. “The accused persons also propagated the ideology of ISIS among other associates in Coimbatore in person as well as through social media and digital devices, with the intention of recruiting other persons to the proscribed organisation for furthering its objectives in India,” the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated in its report.