Rizwan Ahmed and Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed, two alleged propagandists of the Islamic State (ISIS), have orally informed the special NIA court of A T Wankhede in Mumbai that they want to plead guilty. The two are accused of instigating and motivating youths to join ISIS.
The NIA court has directed them to file a written application in that regard during the next scheduled hearing on December 8. Their lawyers Wahab Khan and Sharif Shaikh said that they decided to plead guilty on their own against the advice of the counsels not to plead guilty. Their lawyers also withdrew their vakalatnama. The legal cell of Jamiat Ulama E Maharashtra, which was providing legal aid to them has withdrawn its support.
Once an accused pleads guilty, he forfeits his right to a trial and the court passes judgment based on their admission of the crime. Both of them are facing trial and the court so far has examined 33 out of over 228 witnesses of the NIA.
Ahmed had moved to Bombay High Court for bail and his plea has been reserved for order. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case in March 2016. The two were arrested in January 2016 on the charge of radicalising youths from Malwani in Malad to join the Islamic State (ISIS).
Ahmed and Sayyed were arrested for radicalising Muslim youths
They were arrested and tried for instigating youths namely Ayaz Mohammad Sultan, Mohsin, Abdul Bashir and Noor Mohammad from Malwani, to join the Islamic State in 2015. Investigating agencies claimed Ahmed was the second-in-command of the ISIS wing in India.
NIA court rejected bail of Ahmed
In March this year, Ahmed had applied for bail before the special NIA court. He had cited the case of the Bombay high court granting bail to Areeb Majeed, another purported ISIS recruit from Kalyan. Ahmed said that he should be granted bail on the grounds of delay in the trial as his case is similar to Areeb Majeed.
Ahmed had claimed that he was a child in 2013 when the radicalisation of Ayaz Mohamed started. He claimed it was Ayaz who was radicalising youths to join Islamic terrorist organisation.
NIA claims Malwani module of ISIS
But the NIA claimed Ahmed and Sayyed were in close contact with Yusuf Al Hindi alias Shafi Armar and Ayaz. They were instigating youths to join ISIS. The NIA said that in October 2015, Ayaz went to Kabul from Delhi and allegedly joined ISIS in Afghanistan. NIA claimed that accused persons had incited many other youths in the Malvani area to leave India and join the ISIS for jihad in the Middle East.
