The Malaysian Insight

MILITANT Yazid Sufaat was today released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre in Johor after being held for two years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota).

Bukit Aman’s counterterrorism division chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay has confirmed the release to The Malaysian Insight.

Sources also told TMI that the 55-year-old was released on the instructions of Malaysia’s Prevention of Terrorism Board this morning.

Yazid will have to wear an electronic monitoring device for one year and be placed under house arrest.

“The board at its meeting last month decided that Yazid should be free today. The board considered all aspects of Yazid’s condition while he served his sentence, including his behaviour and whether he has fully repented,” a source said.

Yazid, a US-trained biochemist, was reported to be directly involved in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York.

He was detained under the now-defunct Internal Security Act (ISA) in December 2001 for his alleged involvement with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda. 

He was released in 2008, but re-arrested five years later and again in 2017 after a brief release.

Yazid was arrested in 2013 under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) and sentenced to four years for recruiting new members into the Islamic State terror group.

Following his release, Yazid was detained in December 2017 after authorities discovered that he had been recruiting fellow inmates into al-Qaeda while in detention.

Despite being incarcerated three times, Yazid has been described by previously by other sources as “unrepentant”.

The former army captain was involved with Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamic to set off bombs in Singapore. That plot was foiled by security forces.

Yazid’s ties with al-Qaeda began when he fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s. He later opened his home to the group’s members, who met there to plot the September 11 airplane attacks. 

Yazid’s detention was due to expire this November, Ayob Khan had previously been reported as saying. – November 20, 2019.