Restriction orders placed on ex-religious teacher, student

A freelance religious teacher and his student have been issued restriction orders (RO) after developing radical views supporting armed violence.

Murad Mohd Said, 46, was an accredited religious teacher and previously a principal of a madrasah here.

His student, Razali Abas, a 56-year-old technician, was introduced to him in 2012.

Murad, who was previously an accredited Ustaz under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS), taught that it was compulsory to kill those who renounced Islam or disregarded the Quran.

He also encouraged students to withdraw from Singapore's secular society, disregard secular laws and adhere to the rulings of syariah law instead.

In 2015, he told his Facebook followers to "beware of interfaith dialogues", and on National Day in 2016, made another post questioning if Singapore was "more worthy (of celebration) than Mecca".

Murad was also the principal of a madrasah from 2004 to 2006.

The institution in Toa Payoh currently describes itself as an Islamic-inspired academic school, with an intake of students at the secondary school level who are aged 12 to 17.

Murad has since been struck off from the list of the school's former leaders.

In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Murad's ARS accreditation was cancelled by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) in May last year.

Murad was placed on an RO under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on Dec 5.

A person issued with an RO is not permitted to change residence or employment.

RESTRICTIONS

Without the approval of the director of the Internal Security Department, the person also cannot travel out of Singapore, issue statements, address public meetings, contribute to any publication, or be an office holder or member of any organisation, association or group.

Razali was arrested under the ISA in September last year and was found to hold radical views.

He started attending Murad's classes in 2012, becoming convinced that it was legitimate to kill those he felt were oppressors of Islam and saw those with "militant-looking" profiles on Facebook as heroes.

The posts on these profiles also reinforced his belief in armed violence and his support for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.

Razali was issued an RO in October last year.

Dr Nazirudin Mohd Nasir, senior director of religious policy and development at Muis, said that the cases were examples of individuals taking religious ideas out of context, fitting them into a radical agenda promoting violence.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam told the media yesterday that advocating and supporting radical violence will not be tolerated here.

"If you are a religious teacher and you preach violence and you tell your students it's okay to go and kill non-Muslims, that's an absolute no no," he said.

"Promote your religion, but you cannot promote violence, you cannot run down another religion, you cannot run down another race."

MHA also revealed yesterday that the RO issued to Mohd Jauhari Abdullah, who was a senior member of the terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah detained in September 2002, was allowed to lapse upon its expiry in September last year.

He was issued an RO in September 2012 when he was released from detention.