[ad_1]
The 16-year-old Protestant, arrested last month, planned to attack two mosques on the anniversary of the Christchurch massacre.
A Singapore teenager has been arrested under the country’s strict Homeland Security Act (ISA) for plotting to kill Muslims in two mosques on the March 15 anniversary of the deadly attacks in Christchurch in 2019, announced the government on Wednesday.
The 16-year-old student, who is a Protestant Christian of Indian descent, is the youngest to be detained under the laws, the Home Office (MOHA) said in a declaration, adding that the teenager, who was inspired by “extreme right-wing extremist ideology”, was arrested last month.
“A high school student at the time, it was discovered that he had made detailed plans and preparations to carry out terrorist attacks with a machete against Muslims in two mosques in Singapore,” said the Ministry.
ISA law allows detention without trial.
The teenager, who has not been identified, had mapped out his route and chosen Assyafaah Mosque and Yusof Ishak Mosque as targets near his home in northern Singapore, the ministry said, adding that he also had the ‘intention to broadcast live his planned attack. .
“He was self-radicalized, motivated by a strong antipathy towards Islam and a fascination with violence.
“He had also watched propaganda videos from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and came to the mistaken conclusion that ISIS represented Islam and that Islam called on its supporters to kill non -believers ”, indicates the press release referring to the ISIL group. .
The ministry said the teenager was clearly swayed by Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant who shot 51 Muslims attending Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, 2019. He also broadcast the broadcast. shooting live on Facebook.
Tarrant was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole last year in August.
The MOHA said in the statement that the teenager admitted during the investigation that he could only “predict two outcomes to his plan – that he is arrested before he is able to carry out the attacks, or he executes the plan and is then killed by the police “.
“He came in perfectly prepared, knowing he was going to die, and he was ready to die,” Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said as quoted by the local. media.
In December, the Department of International Security (ISA) said a 48-year-old Singaporean man had been detained under ISA auspices for being “actively” involved in the civil war in Yemen.
“Sheikh Heikel Khalid Bafana, who was in Yemen from 2008 to 2019, volunteered to take up arms and also worked as a paid agent for a ‘foreign power’ collecting intelligence on Yemen,” ISD told local media.
Shanmugam pointed out that since 2015, seven people under the age of 20 have been detained or “received restraining orders under AIS”.
[ad_2]
