SINGAPORE – A 22-year-old Singaporean woman who was planning to go to Syria with her child and marry an Islamic State fighter has been detained without trial, the city-state’s interior ministry said Monday.
Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, who worked at a community nursery, was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
“Izzah was intent on joining ISIS and was actively planning to make her way to Syria, with her young child,” the ministry said in a statement, using another name for the Islamic State group.
“She supported ISIS’s use of violence to establish and defend its self-declared ‘caliphate’, and aspired to live in it.”
Izzah became radicalized from 18 after watching propaganda videos from the extremist group, and had formed an extensive network of foreign contacts, including IS militants and supporters, the MHA said, some of whom had been killed in Syria or arrested for terror-related activities.
The daughter of Quranic teachers, she believed that having a husband who died in battle would give her “elevated status” and she could easily remarry in Syria, the MHA added. Her family tried to talk her out of it but to no avail.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore said the incident demonstrated the threat of self-radicalization is “very real”.
“An individual may fall prey to false narratives and teachings on the internet and social media, such that even a real life support structure may not be able to counter them,” the council said in a statement.
Singapore considers itself a prime target for terrorists because of the anti-terror role it plays and the interior ministry has warned that the terrorism threat was at its highest in recent years.
Since 2015, 14 Singaporeans have been detained under the ISA for radicalization, which allows for detention without trial for up to two years.
The region has been on high alert in recent weeks following a takeover of Marawi in the southern Philippines by Islamist militants flying the black flags of IS.
During a recent regional security dialogue, Malaysian and Indonesian defense ministers said that as IS loses ground in the Middle East, returning fighters from Iraq and Syria will pose a problem in the years ahead.