NIA court frames charges against Abu Dhabi ISIS case accused

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday framed charges against three accused in connection with the Abu Dhabi ISIS case.

Charges have been framed against Sheikh Azhar ul Islam, Adnan Hassan and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh, for offences punishable under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 18, 20, 38, 39 & 40 of the UA (P) Act1967.

The next date for the hearing of the matter has been fixed for March 29.

The accused were arrested on January 29 after their arrival from Abu Dhabi on January 28.

While Adnan Hassan and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh had been frequently visiting the UAE in a search for jobs since 2008 and 2012 respectively, Shaikh Azhar ul Islam joined them in UAE in July 2015.

Hassan had an earlier affiliation with the Indian Mujahideen and later leaned towards the ISIS.

Investigations have established that the accused, in connivance with other known and unknown associates had hatched a criminal conspiracy to propagate ideology, recruit persons, raise funds and facilitate the travel of such recruited persons to Syria to join the ISIS and further its activities.

In furtherance of the aforesaid conspiracy, the accused persons had created multiple email IDs, used multiple mobile numbers obtained from their associates of different countries, formed various online forums and groups on various social media platforms, using internet and invited and associated like-minded persons, residents of different countries from different parts of the world.

They formed a terrorist gang and acted as a frontal group of the ISIS and incited, motivated, invited and facilitated people of different nationalities to leave their respective countries and travel to Syria to join, support and further activities of the ISIS.

The accused were actively involved in perpetuating, promoting and propagating ideologies and terrorist activities of the ISIS. They had voluntarily advocated and professed to be the supporters and members of the ISIS and actively supported, invited support from others, propagated and promoted unlawful activities and terrorists activities of the ISIS by exhorting, inciting, luring and influencing others to become members of this organization by disseminating incriminating contents including sharing comments, pages, videos, images, literature and openly endorsing, justifying and glorifying the terrorist acts of the ISIS.

They had also raised, collected and received funds in the UAE and transferred it to their associates in India, Philippines and Tunisia to facilitate their travel to Syria to join ISIS.