The 22-year-old infant-care assistant had been posting pro-ISIS material online since 2014 and was also looking for a terror supporter in Syria to marry

File photo of displaced Syrian women at a camp on the Syria-Turkey border after fleeing from territory held by the Islamic State group. (Photo: AFP/Delil Souleiman)

SINGAPORE: Singapore has detained its first female citizen for radicalism under the Internal Security Act (ISA), said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (June 12).

Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, a 22-year-old contract infant-care assistant with the PCF (PAP Community Foundation) Sparkletots preschool programme, was detained in June this year.

Her radicalisation started in 2013 through online propaganda related to the Islamic State terrorist group, said MHA.

“She began to believe that ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) represented the true spirit of Islam. Her radicalisation deepened over time,” a press release read. “This was exacerbated by a wide network of foreign online contacts which she developed. They included ISIS militants and supporters, some of whom have either been killed in Syria or arrested for terrorism-related activities.”

Since 2014, Izzah actively posted and shared pro-ISIS material online. Several of her social media platforms were removed by administrators because of such content, but she created new ones.

MHA said Izzah was also intent on joining ISIS and was actively planning to make her way to Syria, with her young child, to do so.

More at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/first-woman-detained-for-radicalism-in-singapore-after-she-8938532