Indian national trained by ISIS in Iraq found guilty by special NIA court

A Malayali who joined ISIS in 2015 and was held by the NIA in 2016 has been found guilty of waging war against India and the Iraq government.

Subahani Haja Moideen, a native of Thodupuzha in Idukki district, joined the ISIS in 2015 and had even traveled to Iraq. He was held by the NIA from Tamil Nadu in 2016.

The NIA special court in Kochi on Friday found him guilty under IPC section 125 for waging war against Asiatic power in alliance with India and section 20 of UAPA for joining a terrorist organisation, apart from criminal conspiracy and supporting a terrorist organisation. His punishment will be pronounced on Monday.

The NIA's charge against him was that he joined the ISIS in 2015 April and went to Iraq. He was trained in using weapons at Mosul in Iraq and waged war against Iraq. Later he left ISIS and he was allowed to return to India by 2015 September. But he continued to be an ISIS follower and was even suspected to be planning terror strikes. He conspired with ISIS operatives through online platforms.

Around 100 Malayalis, including women, were so far reported to have joined the ISIS from Kerala. Many of them were also reported killed in encounters.

Subahani, who is aged around 35, was earlier quizzed by the French anti-terrorism agency in connection with the probe into the 2015 Paris terrorist attack that claimed around 130 lives. He was suspected to have links with the Paris terror strike accused.

He was lured to ISIS through various social media groups. Several digital pieces of evidence of his association with ISIS were recovered by NIA. Moideen worked at his father's cloth shop at Idukki for many years. He was held from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. There were reports that he was trying to procure explosives from Sivakasi while he was held. He came under NIA's radar during a probe into another case.