SINGAPORE, Aug 2 — The family of Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, who is detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for terrorism-related activities, has issued a strongly-worded statement denying that the 44-year-old supports violent ideology and the Islamic State (IS).

The statement, which was sent via email to the newsrooms on behalf of the family by Zulfikar’s wife Shireen Abdul Samad, also criticised the Government and the media here for putting together a narrative to justify Zulkifar’s detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Zulfikar was arrested on July 1 and detained under the ISA for helping to radicalise at least two other Singaporeans with messages and material which he propagated online, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said last week. The MHA said that Zulfikar was radicalised as early as 2001 after reading jihadi-related material and had numerous Facebook posts promoting IS. The ministry added that he wanted to convince others to reject the Western secular democratic nation-state system, and to establish an Islamic caliphate in its place through violent means, if necessary.

However, Zulfikar’s family said today that such information “does not represent the true and correct picture of the situation and statements (on) Facebook made by Zulfikar”. They added that the allegations are mostly based on older posts dating back to 2013 and 2014, and “almost nothing from 2015 and 2016 where his position on many issues have changed”.

They claimed that when global media reports of violence and beheading by IS began surfacing in 2014, Zulfikar was against their violent nature and ideology. Adding that he never encouraged others to join ISIS, the family also said he was not a violent person and did not encourage any violent behaviour towards others, regardless of their race or religion. “As his family, we have numerous recent conversations with him during which he had made it obvious to us, and anyone that knows him personally, that he is not a supporter of ISIS,” the statement said.

Referring to a photo depicting Zulfikar with his children and an Islamic banner that has been circulating online, the family said the banner had been “maliciously and falsely identified” as an ISIS flag when in fact, it has been used throughout Islamic history. “The banner in the photo was purchased to show solidarity towards the oppression of the Palestinians, which had been mentioned by Zulfikar in that post. It was never referred to as a support for ISIS or any other known terrorist organisations,” the family said.

His family said that Zulfikar’s Facebook account has been deactivated. As a result, the “true nature” of his posts could not be shown but “media reports and commentators continue to falsely portray him as an extremist and as an ISIS sympathiser”,

They said: “While Zulfikar has always been known to oppose the Singapore Government policies, his postings were written from a perspective of someone who argued and rationalised his opposition to the People’s Action Party government’s policies vis-à-vis the Malay/Muslim community.”

They added: “To detain him under the ISA for his views, is not fair. … Detaining him under the ISA without trial and without having the opportunity to challenge these aspersions in an open court is an injustice.” — TODAY