Muammar Gadaffi Loses Appeal Against 15 Years' Jail for Giving Militant Training

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 7 (Bernama) – An oil palm plantation operator named after the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has lost his final appeal to reduce his 15 years’ jail term for giving militant training to individuals willing to participate in terrorist activities. Federal Court judgeSuriyadi Halim Omar led a five-man bench which dismissed the appeal by Muamar Gadaffi Mohamad Shafawi, 32, to reduce the jail term imposed by the Court of Appeal on April 26, 2016. He was initially sentenced to five years’ jail by the High Court on Feb 4, 2016. However the Court of Appeal increased the sentence after allowing the prosecution’s appeal. At the outset, lawyer Kee Wei Lon who acted for Muamar Gadaffi, submitted that the sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal was manifestly excessive and sought to upheld the High Court’s decision to which Justice Suriyadi questioned the lawyer over the seriousness of the offence. “Do you read the newspapers? The police had arrested many cases relating to this case. Do you think this is a serious offence?” Kee replied that it was a serious offence. The four other judges on the panel were Justices Zainun Ali, Ramly Ali, Jeffrey Tan and Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin. The prosecution was represented by Mohd Hamzah Ismail. Muamar Gadaffi was sentenced to five years’ jail by the Kuala Lumpur High Court after he pleaded guilty to providing militant training to individuals willing to participate in terrorist activities with the intention to promote an ideology, an act deemed as promoting violence to intimidate the public in Syria. The offence was committed at Bukit Ara Para, Kampung Ketior Dalam, Mukim Senggang, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, between 2pm and 4pm from Dec 25 to 27, 2014. He was charged under Section 130F (c) of Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to 30 years and a fine. According to the facts of the case, Muamar Gadaffi had opened Facebook accounts using the names ‘Iskandar Dzulquranain IS’ and ‘Ammar Rasuli Al-Jihadi’ to spread the ideology of the Daesh terror group. -- BERNAMA