PUTRAJAYA, Oct 4 — A barista remains a free man after the Court of Appeal here rejected the prosecution’s appeal to increase his jail term for possession of three Islamic States (IS) books two years ago.
Nor Farkhan Mohd Isa, 32, completed serving his six-month jail sentence and was released from prison on October 24, last year.
However, today, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohd Nazran Mohd Sham appearing for the prosecution asked the court to increase Nor Farkhan’s sentence to a year as he said the six months sentence imposed by the High Court on Nor Farkhan was manifestly inadequate.
He said the offence committed by Nor Farkhan was serious and the public interest factor should be taken into account.
Nor Farkhan’s counsel KA Ramu countered saying the six months imprisonment imposed by the High Court on his client was adequate citing a case of former public university master’s student Siti Noor Aishah Atam who was sentenced to three years jail for possessing 12 books related to terrorism.
He submitted that Nor Farkhan had in his possession of one book with three volumes.
Justice Datuk Yaacob Md Sam who chaired the panel dismissed the prosecution’s appeal ruling that the six months jail sentence imposed by the High Court complied with the trend of sentencing for cases of that nature.
The other two judges were Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and P. Ravinthran.
Nor Farkhan was sentenced to six months jail by the High Court after he pleaded guilty to the charge of possessing three books entitled Tarbiyah Jihadiyah Edition 1-6, Tarbiyah Jihadiya Edition 7-11 and Tarbiyah Jihadiyah Edition 12-16 which were items related to the IS group.
He committed the offence at No 18, Jalan Nakhoda 21, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Skudai, Johor Baru at 11am on April 20, last year. — Bernama
