Appeals court triples jail term in Daesh military training case

PUTRAJAYA: A man named after the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will have to spend a longer time in prison as his jail term, for giving militant training to individuals willing to participate in terrorist activities, was tripled to 15 years by the Court of Appeal today.
Muamar Gadaffi Mohamad Shafawi, 32, an oil palm plantation operator, was initially sentenced to five years
jail by the High Court last Feb 4.
An Appeal Court three-man bench, chaired by Datuk Wira Mohtaruddin Baki, in a unanimous decision subsituted the sentence with 15 years after ruling the jail sentence meted out by the High Court did not reflect the seriousness of the case.
Muamar Gadaffi was ordered to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest on June 13, 2014.
The other judges on the panel were Justices Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
At the High Court, Muamar Gadaffi pleaded guilty to providing militant training to individuals willing to participate in terrorist activities with intention to promote an ideology, an act deemed as promoting violence to intimidate the public in Syria.
The offence was committed at Bukit Ara Para, Kampung Ketior Dalam, Mukim Senggang, Kuala Kangsar, between 2pm and 4pm from Dec 25 to 27, 2014.
According to the facts of the case, he had opened Facebook accounts using the names "Iskandar Dzulquranain IS' and Ammar Rasuli Al-Jihadi" to spread the ideology of the Daesh militant group.
In seeking for the sentence to be enhanced, DPP Muhammad Azmi Mashud said Muamar Gadaffi had used Facebook accounts to spread the IS militant ideology and gave military training to his friends using home-made rifles.
Counsel Mohd Amirul Ramli urged for the five-year jail term to be maintained as the High Court judge did not err in law when he sentenced his client to five years jail. — Bernama