A gardener pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur High Court today to three counts of supporting and possessing materials linked to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group last year.

Muhammad Sani Mahdi Sahar, 31, a former Quran teacher, made the plea after the charges were read to him again before judge Noorin Badaruddin.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Siti Hajar Mat Radzi told the court that today was the first mention of the case following its transfer from the Muar Sessions Court.

Noorin then fixed Nov 19 for the next mention of the case.

At today’s proceedings, the accused was represented by lawyer Asiah Abd Jalil.

According to the first charge, Sani was accused of supporting IS using a Facebook page under the name of “Abu Ibrahim” in Arabic, which was later changed to “Oyen Ucuk”.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (E8), Level 24, Menara 2, the Royal Malaysia Police headquarters, Bukit Aman at 9am on Dec 19, 2023.

The charge, framed under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code, carries a maximum prison term of 40 years or a fine and property used in the offence may be seized.

For the second charge, the man was accused of possessing three pictures that were blurred with captions stating that the individual in the images pledged allegiance to Abu Hafsah Al-Hasimi Al-Quroshi, who is the fifth leader of IS, on the accused’s Facebook account under the same name.

Sani was also charged with possessing a picture commemorating a militant incident linked to IS in Mozambique in 2020, also on the same Facebook account.

He allegedly committed the offences at 8pm on March 26 and 9.16pm on April 30, at the same location.

The charges, under Section 130JB(1)(a) of the Penal Code, carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years and any property used in committing the offence may be seized.

- Bernama

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