Singapore detains homemaker, student for extremist activities

Hamizah, the woman, started following news about the Axis of Resistance (AOR), a network of Islamist militant and terrorist organisations including Hamas and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB) when the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, 2023.

Singapore: A housewife and a student have been detained in Singapore for their involvement in extremist activities, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said on Monday.

Hamizah Hamzah, 56, the self-radicalised housewife, has also been issued a restriction order, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said on Monday.

Separately, 18-year-old Singaporean student Nick Lee Xing Qiu, who identified as an "East Asian supremacist" and was radicalised by violent far-right extremist ideologies, has been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) of the ISD.

Hamizah started following news about the Axis of Resistance (AOR), a network of Islamist militant and terrorist organisations including Hamas and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB) when the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, 2023.

Hamizah became a fervent AOR supporter and believed their violent acts were justified.

She also developed a hatred for Israel and the Israel Defence Forces and believed they should be eradicated for their actions against Palestinians. As she felt she did not have the physical ability and resources to take up arms in the Israel-Hamas war, she showed her support by posting pro-AOR content on social media.

When her accounts were banned for violent content, she would create new ones, according to media reports, citing the ISD.

Hamizah was also the sole administrator of several pro-AOR social media groups which had up to over 1,000 members.

The ISA said, “She took pride in being the administrator of these groups, and saw it as her responsibility to ensure that pro-AOR and anti-Israel narratives were actively propagated in them.” Hamizah had no attack plans nor intentions to engage in armed violence locally or overseas, the department added.

But it said her staunch support for AOR, her willingness to spread propaganda to promote their cause and her incitement of others to engage in armed violence, make her a security concern.

Lee, who is of Chinese ethnicity, had aspired to conduct attacks against Malays and Muslims in Singapore. He believed that the Chinese, Korean and Japanese ethnicities were superior, ISD said.

Lee was issued with a detention order in December last year. He is the third Singaporean youth with far-right extremist ideologies to be dealt with under the ISA. In June 2023, Lee searched for the livestream video footage of far-right terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s attacks against Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Mar 15, 2019.

He watched the footage repeatedly and came to idolise Tarrant, according to media reports.

He then downloaded video game modifications and role-played as Tarrant killing Muslims at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch.

By early 2024, Lee's radicalisation deepened and he had developed a strong enmity towards Malays and Muslims, as well as other ethnicities traditionally targeted by far-right extremists including Jews, Mexicans, African Americans and Indians.

Lee first started developing hostility towards Muslims in early 2023 after encountering Islamophobic and far-right content on social media. He spent several hours a day searching for and consuming extremist online content, according to ISD.

"He was also supportive of white supremacy because he felt that Islam was a threat to white culture," ISD said. He started a social media account in late 2024 to instigate others to conduct attacks against Malays and Muslims. This account was used to repost far-right extremist videos, and he uploaded about 20 self-made videos glorifying far-right terrorists and containing anti-Malay and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Lee’s attack plans were aspirational with no set timeline and investigations into his online contacts have found no imminent threat to Singapore.

ISD Also announced Monday the deportation of a Malaysian who was detained last year for having expressed keen interest in joining the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Saharuddin Saari, 34, working in Singapore as a cleaner was arrested by ISD in November 2024 and repatriated to Malaysia that month.