‘Jihadis’ plead not guilty to terror charges
Ahmed Latheef, Ahmed Suhail Moosa, and Munawwar Abdulla are the first to stand trial for traveling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group after the offence was criminalised by the controversial 2015 Anti-Terrorism Act.
31 Aug 2016, 9:00 AM
Three Maldivian men arrested from the Turkey-Syria border in February pleaded not guilty Tuesday to terrorism charges.
Ahmed Latheef, Ahmed Suhail Moosa, and Munawwar Abdulla are the first to stand trial for travelling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group after the offence was criminalised by the controversial 2015 Anti-Terrorism Act.
After filing the not guilty plea, defence lawyer Ismail Mohamed told the court that his clients had travelled to Turkey for a business trip and challenged the basis for the terrorism charge.
“The charges against my clients accuse them of travelling abroad, to ‘participate’ in a ‘civil’ war in a foreign country. To prove these charges, the state needs to specify how travelling to Syria is a crime,” he said.
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