Pendakwa Raya v MUHAMMAD SANI MAHDI BIN SAHAR

Case Significance

Illustrates the sentencing approach for security offences of supporting a terrorist group under sections 130J(1)(a) and 130JB(1)(a) of the Penal Code, where prevailing sentencing trends, the raised statutory maximum and a prior record inform a custodial term.

This High Court decision at Kuala Lumpur sets out the grounds of sentence in a security-offences prosecution. The accused faced three charges under seksyen 130J(1)(a) and seksyen 130JB(1)(a) Kanun Keseksaan (sections 130J(1)(a) and 130JB(1)(a) of the Penal Code) concerning support for a terrorist group. The first charge alleged that the accused knowingly gave support to the Islamic State (IS) group through a social-media account, and the second and third charges alleged possession of images depicting a pledge of allegiance to an IS leader. Having initially claimed trial, the accused pleaded guilty to all three charges on the trial date, and the court proceeded to sentence.

In mitigation the accused sought a lenient sentence, while the prosecution urged an aggravated sentence, pointing out that the accused was not a first offender but had prior convictions for four offences under section 130JB(1)(a). The court had regard to the maximum penalty for the first charge — imprisonment of up to 40 years, the substituted maximum reflecting Parliament's intention to raise the punishment for such offences in view of their seriousness and prevalence — and to the prevailing sentencing trend for section 130J(1)(a), which the court identified as between 10 and 15 years. Weighing the seriousness of offences that engage public safety against the mitigation advanced and the public interest, and noting that the accused would be eligible for a one-third remission, the court considered a term at the lower end of that range appropriate given it was only a quarter of the statutory maximum.

The court sentenced the accused to 10 years' imprisonment on the first charge and 4 years' imprisonment on each of the second and third charges, all to run concurrently from the date of arrest on 17 May 2024, with the exhibits forfeited. The judgment illustrates how sentencing trends and a prior record shape the sentence in terrorism-support cases.