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A MAN WHO admitted sending funds to Islamic State was in contact with “medium to high level” operatives in the international terrorist group, and tried to travel to Syria to fight in the ongoing war, has been jailed for two and a half years.
In the first prosecution of its kind in this country, 26-year-old Hassan Bal from Waterford admitted to unlawfully transferring €400 for use by Isis and attempting to collect money for the group.
His activities were detected following a newspaper sting and an investigation by a number of police forces.
At Waterford Circuit Court today, Judge Eugene O’Kelly found that the accused had the confidence of “significant members” of Isis and had proven his credentials to them by attempting to travel to Syria to join them.
He sentenced Hassan Bal, formerly of O’Connell Street in Waterford, to four and a half years in prison, with two years suspended, for attempting to collect funds for Isis. The suspensions were on the condition that he remains “totally disassociated” with any group promoting “a radical view of Islam”.
The investigation started in 2015 when an investigative journalist with the Daily Mail in London, Omar Wahid, created an account on the Kik social media network and made contact with Omar Hussain, known in the UK as ‘the supermarket jihadi’, with the intention of giving Omar the impression there was money available for Isis, Superintendent Anthony Pettit told the court.
The journalist received a message to say Isis was “desperate for money” to assist with its expansion of activities in Syria. In the same message, Omar Hussain told the journalist to contact an Abu Issa Amriki, a jihadist based in Isis-controlled Syria.
The journalist did this via Kik and after a number of communications, Amriki eventually suggested he contact a “brother” who was in the UK.
A few days later, the journalist was given the name of an individual, Abu Abdul Rahman Britani, which was a name being used on Kik by Hassan Bal.
He made contact with Bal and a total of 435 messages were exchanged. Bal had a brother in London called Omar Bal, and an arrangement was made with the journalist by Hassan Bal whereby the journalist would make a drop-off of money in an envelope at a builder’s merchant in London, which would be collected by Hassan Bal’s brother. The latter had no knowledge of what was going on and simply thought he was doing his brother a favour.
Evidence
The journalist contacted the Metropolitan Police in London just after the drop-off was made. The envelope did not contain money, but instead had a street guide “to bulk it up”.
The investigations which followed were “necessarily trans-jurisdictional and complex,” Superintendent Pettit said, and led to Hassan Bal’s address in Waterford. Bal was arrested on 22 December 2015.
After the drop-off didn’t include any money, the journalist involved received various messages from a number of people, including Hassan Bal, “giving out” and saying that he had “taken him for a ride”. Some of the messages were “threatening in nature”.
One message found on Bal’s phone after his arrest said “I swear brother, get me some toys and I will go straight to the Daily Mail”. There was also a photo of him in combat dress with an imitation pistol.
Gardaí found a Western Union money transfer slip in his bedroom for the amount of €400 and dating from 2 October 2015.
While being interviewed by gardaí in December 2015, Hassan Bal accepted he had arranged the drop-off but said the money wasn’t intended for Isis.
His phone also had a document containing guidelines for travelling to Syria as well as propaganda videos showing executions and suicide bombs.
Charges
The accused was arrested again on 27 April 2017. More contents from his phone were put to him and he accepted that the money was meant to be used for fighting in Syria. Both Omar Hussain and Abu Issa Amriki were “prominent members of Isis.”
While being questioned by Giolliosa O Lideadha SC, defending, Superintendent Pettit said the two people Hassan Bal was in contact with were at a “medium to high level within [Isis]”.
Hassan Bal pleaded guilty in January at the circuit court to unlawfully transferring €400 by means of an An Post/Western Union transaction to a Stevo Maksimovic in the Bosnian city of Brako on 2 October 2015.
This was done with him intending or knowing that the money would be used in whole or in part for the benefit of Islamic State.
He also pleaded guilty to communicating by phone with an intermediary in London on 23 October 2015, in an attempt to collect or receive cash for Islamic State, from a person known to him as Omar Abu Azid, at an address at Geron Way, London.
Both charges are contrary to Section 13 of the Criminal Justice Act (Terrorist Offences) of 2005 and the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison.
Apology
In a letter written to the court, the accused said: “I don’t know how to put into words how deeply sorry I am for what I have done, and how remorseful”. After his arrest he said he “came to my senses,” he said. “My eyes started to open and I saw what I was doing was wrong and that my actions didn’t aid the Syrian people”. He appealed to the judge:
My life is in your hands.
He wanted to become a “positive” influence, against the use of violence, his lawyer said.
The court heard that Hassan Bal was a “valued member” of the Islamic community in Waterford.
“It is in the public interest that Hassan Bal is rehabilitated into society on his release,” Judge Eugene O’Kelly said. “He will face many challenges re-asserting himself into daily life, but the hope is that he will be able to participate fully in society.”
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Maybe start with banning the vape ads that have been seen on the sides of buses recently? Dont know how that was even allowed to happen.
@D: I’m a vaper and former smoker, advertising anything that involves inhaling a product into the lungs should be banned. That would cover the lot and no other legislation would be needed.
I doubt bottled air will be released anytime soon :)
@D: That’s pretty much exactly what they’re saying they’ll start with.
@Bilbo Baggins: Shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place was my point. Very clearly a poor idea from the outset and it’s strange that it was allowed to happen.
@Diarmaid O’Riordáin: anything that involves inhaling? You mean like car fumes, fossil fuel fumes and perfumes?
@Diarmaid O’Riordáin: yeah sorry to burst your bubble but we already sell bottled air. It’s called oxygen. Maybe your plan needs more thought.
@Diarmaid O’Riordáin: we’d need to ban cars and trucks so. And smokey fires.
@Conoroconnor: Pity nobody ever had the cajones to ban ciggies when it first became apparent they were lethal.
Anything to avoid the real issue with this guy – record numbers on trolleys.
@Perlum Sprite: Ever hear of prevention? Maybe if people weren’t so unhealthy there wouldn’t be a trolley crisis. Of course there are problems with our healthcare system, among other things, but it will never be solved by blaming whichever minister happens to be in charge for a few years. There are entrenched union issues, top heavy and admin heavy systems and on top of that people don’t want to hear about our obesity crisis, smoking, etc. etc.
@HectorPickaxe: ban all sugars and everything nice or go like Bloomberg and tax every1 so much so they cant buy things that are unhealthy and bad for them
@HectorPickaxe: you may have heard of prevention, but looks like you don’t understand it lol?!
.Vaping is an alternate that prevents former smokers from developing lung cancer.
check yo’self before you wreck yo’self
..and before you retort any reported ill effects were due to uncertified made black market cannabis vape oil containing vitamin E
check yo’self before you wreck yo’self
@Jazz Buckler: Preventing teenagers from starting to vape seems like a good idea to me. I very much doubt that most people under 20-25 need to vape to cease smoking. These ads are clearly targeting younger people who may use them without ever having smoked cigarettes. I’m all for vaping, when used correctly as an alternative, so please don’t put words in my mouth. Former smoker.
@Vote4Pedro: why would you do that?
@HectorPickaxe: How do prevent teenagers from doing anything they want? Do you actually have teen kids?
Jaysus. Just ban everything. Put us all to bed after dinner.
@Aidan Haughey: dinner is bad for u Aidan jeez
@Aidan Haughey: There’s two sides to this debate. The original nicotine delivery system was the cigarette, it was the thousands of other chemicals that came with it that caused the damage though, cancer, heart and lung issues etc. It took quite a while for us to realise and prove that tobacco was deadly, and of course the tobacco industry lied through their collective teeth about, well everything.
Now there’s a new nicotine delivery system, e-cigarettes or vaping, despite what some may say they not healthy but health-IER than smoking traditional tobacco. What this means is that if you smoke then, yes you’re better off transitioning to one of these products, ideally with the goal of giving up eventually. There have been no independent sufficiently long term studies to determine the health effects of these devices, there’s so many of them and so many different flavours it would be an enormous undertaking.
Some countries are so concerned about these devices eventually replacing cigarettes as nicotine delivery systems that they’ve banned any flavours containing nicotine. And there’s good reason for this as it’s primarily the large tobacco companies who are behind most of the e-cigarette companies, they either own them or are majority shareholders. So, while the medical community insist we don’t know enough about these devices and need much more time to conduct more, longer term studies it’s the tobacco companies who are telling us they’re perfectly safe and practically good for us. Now, where have we heard that before?
@Arch Angel:
Big tobacco own 30% of juul….that’s it
In general vape shops don’t like or sell juul for that reason
No one has ever claimed vaping was safe ….but it is monumentally safer than cigarettes which kill 50% of users
95% safer in fact ,that’s taking all known data and science
Obviously there is no 40yr research, in fact much the same as any pharma (or any) product on the market .
But there is 10yrs worth ,and there’s is only 4 actual ingredients which are heated ,not burnt .
Other than literally a handful of allergic reactions over 10yrs there has been no problems of any sort
Although I find walking behind someone in a cloud of watermelon ridiculous, I think Government is on the bandwagon again.
Anyone I know who has changed to vaping, feels their health is much better and some use these sweet flavours. So why not follow the UK’s lead and invest into proper research? There was a well balanced documentary on a few weeks ago that had some interesting points. Firstly that young people have not taken to vaping in Europe like the US. Also pointed out that the illnesses/deaths seen in US are not in Europe because there is no black market here. Prohibiting something that people want to do just pushes users towards a black market with 0 control.
@Wreck Tangle: Spot on comment, as a vaper myself I empathize with you having to experience the inconsiderate watermelon cloud. Some people don’t have boundaries.
Who has ever heard a child say “mammy mammy can I have a fruit flavoured vape?” Nobody, that’s who.
@John: If you accept that vaping can be a modern nicotine delivery system, this can be used to wean existing smokers off traditional tobacco products, which isn’t a bad thing.
However the tobacco companies tend to think in a long term strategy and their goal is to introduce a product to new customers, preferably for quite a while. Nicotine, as we know, is highly addictive. The tobacco companies introduce vaping and e-cigarettes and tell us these products are health-ier, they’re almost good for us. They introduce sweet flavours and social media campaigns that are clearly marketed at a very young audience. Kids. And once that younger customer base introduce nicotine into their vapes and e-cigarettes. BINGO! They’re hooked and the entire cycle begins again.
Why dont they just ban cigarettes
@John Smith: exactly they wont because of revenue it returns so they zone in on vaping
@John Smith: coz they’re wonderful
It isn’t like Vaping is the same as smoking . People want vices and it isn’t the worst vice in the world . The crap people eat and consume drinks wise is most likely far more dangerous than vaping . Prohibition doesn’t work .
@JDB: it’s actually largely unclear yet what the effects of vaping could be, which is why it’s important not to recklessly advertise it to people like it’s nothing.
@D: Are you sure about that? Plenty of studies out there. I’d encourage you to look at the independent studies carried out by Public Health England and the Royal College of Surgeons. Paid for with public money. When you start citing studies that have been paid for by private money, you have to wonder what the terms of reference are and the actual objectives and aims of the study are.
@Engine No. 9: e-cigarettes and vapes havent been around long enough to know the long term effects of using them.
@D: the science into the long term effects of smoking didn’t really start until 1957/58 or so and within 5-10 years they knew how bad it was. That’s with 1950s/60s technology. Fast forward 60 years and tech that has advanced so significantly they can confidently model and simulate the effect to the lungs of 30 years of vaping in around 6 months. That argument is completely invalid. Vaping was invented by a Japanese chemist in 2003 who sought a healthier alternative for his own cigarette habit and it has been in the public domain for almost as long so to say it’s not around long enough is a fools errand.
@Engine No. 9: I’m not arguing that vaping is less bad for you in comparison to smoking cigarettes. But trying to say we know the effects of vaping long term is untrue. Most vapes and e cigarettes still cause nicotine addiction and the effects of chemicals present in liquids are still unknown. Trying to pretend it’s perfectly fine is ridiculous.
@Engine No. 9: Thank you…some sense
@D: ok so what do YOU define as “long term”?
Tell us.
I didn’t realise when you turned 18 you no longer liked sweet flavours.
@Harry Trafford: exactly Harris is a holier than thou nanny state Fukwit like most FG’ers
Here comes the tax
How many on hospital trolleys today Simon ? How many of them are older people ?
How many on hospital waiting lists ?
How much will the wrongly sited out of control Childrens Hospital at St James cost ?
Absolute Muppet try sorting out our third world health service first, the Emergency departments in our hospitals are a complete and utter disaster ( I’m in them everyday for my job), its heart breaking seeing the people on trollies lining the corridors, with no way of sleeping toilet facilities and live one having to stand beside the beds, yet manager after manager is paid ridiculous money to do f all, jobs for the boys, hire o Leary and clean the money sapping cretons out!!
My local playground is full of children vaping on there lunch break it seems to be the new cool thing to do amonst kids
Started smoking at 13 and failed to quit lots of times but when I got my first taste of strawberries and cream vape I kicked the cigarettes, No way I would of doing that if it was tobacco flavoured liquid!
increase the age to buy vape products because there is zero chance in banning flavoured vape liquid, especially when myself and a lot of others make our own liquids or buy zero nic juice and add a shot of nicotine. pointless ban
Vaping should be banned in the work place, just like cigarettes. Why should I have to endure the sickly sweet smell of these fumes exhaled by someone sitting near me.
@Declan O’Farrell: don’t know what sort of place you work in, but it sounds unusually interesting.
Yeah ban the flavoured e cigs and watch people go back to cigarettes and increase health care costs. Well done Harris another stunning move of sheer idiocy in the name of save the children.
Just another example of our busy body politicians justifying their existence.
The legal age for vaping in Ireland is 15. This is hardly the demographic for candy floss.
While reports have linked vaping to deaths related to respiratory illnesses, many have argued/found that these were modified from their factory condition for a stronger hit.
Anyway, that’s all I’ll say.
I’ve seen loads of teens vaping. It seems to be the “new cool” that smoking used to be. They were originally supposed to be an aid to smokers to quit cigarettes. Now they’re more common than cigarettes. Nicotine addiction has found a new target market. The potential risks of vaping are not known. I’ve a feeling Big Tobacco have got in on the act and probably own the vaping companies. The market is huge and many seem to use vapes as excuse to look like rebels and cool. There needs to be a clamp down on them, the flavors are a joke. If they’re medically proven to help quit smoking yes, as a tool to look cool or rebellious no.
@Patrick O’Farrell: Big Tobacco do own a few vaping companies and have shares in some, but the vast majority of device and e-liquid manufacturers are independently owned and are not influenced by Big Tobacco. The entire industry was created to combat the ill effects of combustible cigarettes. Kids will always, ALWAYS get their hands on things they know they’re not supposed to have. I work in a vape shop, and have done for two years. Out of all the product lines we sell only one of them is owned by a tobacco company, to my knowledge. The vape industry in Ireland has been asking the government for 5+ years to implement age restriction laws and now Simon Harris is acting like he’s doing this amazing thing that he just came up with by himself – age restriction. While it’s not currently illegal for me to sell to minors, I don’t sell to minors. No reputable vape company/shop has ever or will ever knowingly sell to a minor. We are not out to addict a new generation to nicotine. Our job is to help current smokers transition and to eventually get off nicotine altogether. This is helped by the fact that there are various levels of nicotine strengths, so that people can start high (if they need to – it varies from person to person depending on how much they smoke) and work their way down.
As for the flavours – they are an integral part of the industry. I’ve been vaping for almost three years and I have never used a tobacco flavour. If we were limited to only using tobacco flavours then there’s a very high chance I’d still be smoking cigarettes, and I know that that’s true for a lot of people. While I’m not a doctor I can say one thing for sure – within a month of switching from cigarettes to vaping I noticed a huge improvement in my health and how I felt in general, and I wasn’t even a heavy smoker. I can only imagine that the people who switched from smoking 20+ a day saw even bigger benefits.
What’s happening here is Simon Harris has seen the hysteria in the US and automatically assumes the same thing is happening here. He forgets, or doesn’t realise, that the regulations on the vaping industry in the US are VASTLY different to in the EU. There are much higher nicotine levels allowed in the US, up as far as 60mg, whereas 20mg is the maximum legally allowed here. 60mg is absolutely insane. Every device and liquid has to be notified to the government here before it’s approved for sale. There’s a long list of ingredients that can’t be used. The differences go on and on.
Now, nobody, absolutely nobody, is saying that vaping is healthy for you or safe. But it has been proven time and time again that it is healthiER than smoking cigarettes.
@Jason: Excellent post. 100% agree.
But he has no issue with cherry flavoured fags that are widely available.
Pffft…
Science is now aware that vaping injures the lungs in a manner not unlike the smoke of burning tobacco.
Chewing tobacco and chewing tobacco free pouches is the cheap alternative to buying nicorette products which are very expensive.
Under the tobacco laws it is not illegal to chew tobacco in Ireland but no one in Ireland sells chewing tobacco; you have to buy it online.
There are arguments against chewing tobacco that it cause oral cancers. But this has not ever been proven as fact.
I chew tobacco and I chew the little pouches that contain no tobacco where the nicotine a been extracted and is held in a salt oil powder.
After three days my smokers cough was gone.
I have used an e cigarette for a year and I found it was worse than smoking. It makes you feel bloated and it really does mess around with the lining of your mouth and throat.
Inhaling vaporized glycerine all day long ever day cannot be good for you.
Smoking burnt tobacco all day long cannot be good for you.
Chewing tobacco all day is the lesser of all the evils of nicotine craving.
As a subsitute to aid in the cessation of nicotine consumption in the short term it might work but invariably it becomes a perceived healthy alternative mode of smoking.
But science is not about making money and science of late has shown that they are no better and as bad as smoking tobacco.
The best chewing tobacco product tend to be Swedish the home of chewing tobacco.
This website is a good starting place. You can buy actual strips of tobacco leaved rolled up into a chewy bit or the tobacco free pouches which have only the nicotine and where there is no need to spit out the leaf juices which if you swallowed would not harm you anyway.
https://www.haypp.com/eu
I hope this helps people looking for a safe alternative to smoking and who cannot afford to buy Nicorette gum, sprays or patches.
I wonder will Simon Harris ever say ‘Were on to you’ in the future to any of the unethical baby killing English abortion clinics he is only too happy to permit to exist in our country.
Oh yeah the people decided it was ok to kill babies….or was it the people who really decided ?
It must be great for a politician to have something to sink his teeth into so that he can deflect from the absolute mess he’s making. The health portfolio is the poison chalice one must hold before becoming party leader. This guy’s just using the same formula Micháel Martin used. Get the job nobody wants. Pick an easy target and make a stand. Become party leader. That’s politics.
When the voting politicians say “He did a good job in Health” they don’t mean he produced results, they mean he managed to avoid too much trouble. That’s the benchmark for politicians – not making a memorable mess of the job, and so not affecting the attitudes of too many voters.
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