KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The High Court has described the act of four men charged with promoting terrorist group IS in the country, as serious, and that the maximum prison sentence imposed on them was justified.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan said this was because the offence not only contributed to the spread of the terrorist ideology, but could even lead to the death of civilians, and destruction of property.

“With this, the court is responsible for providing heavy punishment to prevent these kind of disaster from occurring again, and to provide a lesson to all the accused, as well as the society,” he said before sentencing two brothers, Mohd Anwar Azmi, 34, and Mohd Nurakmal Azmi, 31, to 25 years in jail.

Two of their accomplices, water trader Izwan Shameer Suzaimi, 26, and tyre shop worker Muhammad Luqman Hakim Abdul Aziz, 23, were also sentenced to 20 years in jail, after they were found guilty of promoting acts of violence in the country, in April last year.

In his judgement, Nordin said the court accepted the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, including another of the accused’s friend (who has already been sentenced) that they had gone to Gunung Nuang in Hulu Langat, near here, not for camping or socialising, but instead to conduct experiments in preparation to bomb certain areas around Kuala Lumpur.

“Prosecution witnesses also said all of them went to the mountain carrying a bag each which contained the materials to perform the test, instead of camping gear,” he said.

However, he said the court took into account the mitigating factors by the lawyers of applying minimum imprisonment for the four accused.

The court ordered the four to serve the sentence from the date of arrest on April 25, last year.

Meanwhile, a teenager at the time of the incident, was also found guilty of the same charge, however, the sentence against him would be heard on May 27, pending a probation report from the Social Welfare Department since he was 17.

On May 20 last year, the accused were charged in the Kajang Magistrate’s Court of conspiring to commit acts which violate the laws of the country, namely promoting acts of terrorism.

They allegedly committed the offence at No 2, Lot 3917, Kampung Bistari, Sungai Michu, Batu 13, Hulu Langat, Selangor, between 7pm on April 24, 2015, and 1am the following day, in accordance with Section 130G(a) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up 30 years and fine, if convicted.

Earlier, DPP Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin had requested an appropriate penalty for the offence, as it was deemed to be serious, in addition to serving as a deterrent to others.

“The accused should have thought about their future before conspiring criminal acts to create chaos, by bombing places of interest in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Another accomplice, Mohd Hafifi Tarmizi, 26, who worked as a storekeeper, was jailed for eight years by the same court on Nov 16 last year, after pleading guilty to the same charge.

Based on the facts of the case, Mohd Hafifi had proposed for a leader to be appointed to head a group similar to that of those established in Syria, to plan and destroy entertainment centres, as well as vice and gambling venues around Kuala Lumpur.

All of them including Mohd Hafifi, then made plans to perform test explosions in Gunung Nuang, Hulu Langat, Selangor, on 25 April 2015, however, Mohd Hafifi withdrew himself at the last moment. — Bernama