A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court on Monday sentenced two Coimbatore residents to eight years of rigorous imprisonment for recruiting and spreading the ideology of the banned terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The court convicted Muhammad Azharudeen (27) of Anbu Nagar, Ukkadam, and Shiek Hidayathulla alias Firoz Khan (35) of South Ukkadam, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Sections 38 (membership of a terrorist organisation) and 39 (supporting a terrorist organisation). The sentences will run concurrently.
The case was registered in 2019 after intelligence inputs revealed that Azharudeen and his associates were actively engaged in propagating ISIS ideology with the aim of recruiting vulnerable youth for carrying out terrorist activities in South India, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Investigations intensified following the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka in April 2019, which killed over 250 people. The NIA probe uncovered that the duo had been watching and circulating speeches of radical clerics such as Anwar-Al-Awlaki, Abu Bara, Moosa Cerantonio, and Sri Lankan ISIS leader Zahran Hashim.
Digital forensic analysis confirmed that materials linked to Zahran Hashim were recovered from the accused’s devices and social media accounts. From 2017 to March 2019, they allegedly engaged in ISIS-related activities, travelling across Kerala to meet associates and extend support to the group.
Both convicts are also accused in the 2022 Coimbatore blast case, which shook Tamil Nadu when an LPG cylinder explosion, allegedly linked to a terror plot, killed one man near a temple in Ukkadam.
The NIA Special Court ordered each of them to serve eight years of rigorous imprisonment, observing that their activities posed a serious threat to national security. However, since the sentences will run concurrently, their total imprisonment period will be eight years.
