With her parents seated in the public gallery looking on, judge Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah said: “During the five years in prison, you will eat, pray and bathe but if you do not cleanse your heart, that would be a pity and a great loss.
“We hope you will repent and become a good person.
“Look upon your parents behind you. We hope your sentence will be a lesson to others,” he said before sentencing her.
The High Court found Aishah guilty of possessing 12 books promoting militant ideologies, including that of Islamic State (IS).
The judge found Aishah was aware that the books she bought contained militant ideologies, such as those of al-Qaeda.
“She admitted buying the books to prepare for her thesis.”
Aishah was convicted under Section 130JB of the Penal Code and the Security Offences Act (Special Measures) 2012 (Sosma).
The judge ordered her to serve the sentence from the date of her arrest and that the 12 books be destroyed.
Shariff said Aishah’s defence that her intention was to continue her studies for a master’s degree in Usuluddin (Islamic Faith and Thought) at Universiti Malaya (UM) from 2012 to 2013 was merely a “figment of imagination”.
He said this was because she had not even registered the title of her thesis with UM before her arrest by police.
“The requirement is to register the title of the thesis. If no money, that’s all right, but she must register the title first. But I didn’t hear any response on this from Aishah.
“It was obvious she had no desire to continue her studies.”
Aishah was initially arrested in March 2016 under Sosma for possessing the 12 books.
The titles of the books included “The Vision of the Political Movement of Jihad”, “Second Generation of Al-Qaeda: What and Who Is Zarqawi and the Plan for the Future” and “From Usama To Activist”.
Aishah pleaded not guilty to the charges at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in April 2016, claiming the books were for research for her master’s degree studies in UM from 2012 to 2013.
After her arrest, she was expelled from UM for failing to attend classes.
Last September, the High Court acquitted and discharged Aishah from all the charges, stating there was no prima facie case made out against her.
However, she was re-arrested immediately under the Prevention of Crime (Amendment and Extension) Act 2014 or Poca and detained for 60 days.
Upon her release, she was placed under house arrest in Dungun, Terengganu, and had to wear an electronic monitor. Since March 29, she had been held in Kajang Prison under Sosma.
Siti Aishah sentenced to 5 years’ jail over 12 ‘militant’ books