KUALA LUMPUR // Detainees in Malaysia suspected of supporting ISIL have been removed from the general jail population after some were found preaching its extremist ideology to fellow inmates.
“They have been found to influence other criminals in joining the ideology,” Malaysia’s home minister Zahid Hamidi said on Thursday.
He said the ISIL suspects were now being housed in dedicated cell blocks.
“These are hardcore people who want to go and fight in Iraq and Syria. We want to neutralise them,” Mr Hamidi said.
Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia have expressed increasing alarm as scores of the country’s citizens have either gone abroad to join the ISIL fighters or been arrested for supporting the group or seeking to travel to Syria.
Mr Zahid said 67 Malaysians are known to have gone to Syria and Iraq and that five had been killed fighting for the cause.
Malaysia was holding 120 people – both men and women – with suspected ISIL links or sympathies, said Mr Zahid, who is in charge of domestic security.
The country has traditionally observed a moderate brand of Islam and kept a lid on extremists, but the group’s ability to lure Malaysian Muslims, along with thousands of others worldwide, has rattled authorities.
Malaysia plans to soon introduce a new anti-terrorism law to counter a potential ISIL-related security threat as fears grow that recruits may return home to spread militant Islam.
* Agence France-PResse
