NIA court sentences 15 in ISIS conspiracy case

<p id="content">The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today said that a Delhi court has sentenced 15 persons to rigorous imprisonment of five to 10 years, who were earlier convicted in the ISIS conspiracy case.</p>
The case pertains to the recruitment of Indian Muslim youth by Syria-based IS media chief Yusuf-Al-Hindi to work for the terror organization and commit acts of terrorism in India at its behest.

An NIA spokesperson on Saturday said, "A Delhi court on Friday pronounced sentence to 15 accused persons in ISIS conspiracy case."

The Special NIA court sentenced Nafees Khan to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) with a fine of Rs 1,03,000, Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh to seven years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 65,000, Abu Anas to seven years RI and a fine of Rs 48,000, Mufti Abdus Sami to seven years RI and a fine of Rs 50,000, Azhar Khan to six years RI with a fine of Rs 58,000 and Amzad khan to six years RI and a fine of Rs 78,000.

The NIA court also sentenced Mohammad Shariff Moinudeen, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hussain, Syed Mujahid, Najmul Huda, Mohammad Obedullah, Mohammad Aleem, Mohammad Afzal, Sohail Ahmad to five years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 38,000 on each of them.

The NIA registered a case on December 9, 2015 under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Indian Penal Code pertaining to criminal conspiracy hatched by the ISIS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youth through different social media platforms.

During the investigation, searches were conducted in various cities across the country and 19 accused were arrested, the official said.

The official said, "During investigation, it was revealed that the accused persons had formed an organization by the name Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind (a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India and pledging allegiance to the ISIS/ISIL) to recruit Muslim youth to work for ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of one Yusuf-Al-Hindi aka Shafi Armar aka Anjan Bhai, who was based in Syria and was purportedly the media chief of ISIS."

The official said that the case had a "huge impact" on like-minded people who were likely to join the ISIS.

The official pointed out that after the arrest of the ISIS terrorists, their activities were minimized and their other associates were identified and questioned to unravel their plans.

"Several ISIS sympathizers, who had gone to join ISIS, were intercepted at various locations in the Middle East and were deported back to India," the official said, adding that the investigation conducted by the agency stopped the facilitation of the ISIS members in India as well as abroad.

The NIA had filed charge sheets against 16 accused persons in 2016-2017.

The official said that this case was the first of its kind in which an extensive terrorist conspiracy involving online radicalization was hatched in cyber space in the aftermath of the declaration of the Islamic Caliphate by Abu-Baqar-Al-Bagdadi in 2014 and Yusuf Al Hindi based in Syria..