Tuesday October 30, 2012

Family stays out of the limelight

Lying low: It’s all quiet at Razif’s family house in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

KUALA LUMPUR: Family members of Razif Mohd Ariff have kept indoors following his arrest in Lebanon for suspected links to the al-Qaeda terror network.

They did not come out when The Star reporters turned up at the gate of their double-storey terrace house in the posh neighbourhood of Taman Tun Dr Ismail yesterday.

Razif's father, a retired military officer, had already flown off to Lebanon after his arrest together with college student, Muhamad Razin Sharhan Mustafa Kamal, 21, by Lebanese army intelligence on suspicion of being suicide bombers.

It is learnt that Razif's family had been advised by the police not to speak to the media.

A neighbour, Margaret Teoh, described the family as “very friendly”, adding that they socialised well with others in the area.

“They always greet me and others with a smile and speak politely. I am shocked to hear about Razif's arrest,” she said, adding that she had not seen him for quite some time.

“I've also been away in Australia and I cannot remember the last time I met him. He is a normal person and did not strike me as an extremist,” she said, remembering him as a “very polite” person.

Teoh said that she believed Razif to be the second son in the family of four and that his mother sells cakes at the morning market in Taman Tun.

Razif, who was deported to Malaysia after being arrested in Yemen in 2010, and Razin were charged with belonging to al-Qaeda at the Lebanese military court in Beirut last Thursday.

Lebanese newspapers claimed that Razif, who spoke fluent Arabic, had undergone terrorist training in Yemen in 2007 after being recruited by another Malaysian identified as “Mustafa Mansour”.

Razif is believed to have then recruited Razin, a college student in Trolak, when they met sometime last year.

On June 9, 2010, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman had confirmed that Razif and another Malaysian, identified as Azizul Alfian, 22, were detained by Yemeni authorities.

However, he had said then that they were not al-Qaeda members but merely two youths ignorant of the country's laws requiring them to obtain a permit before crossing the border of its capital Sanaa.

The two, who were studying Arabic in Yemen, were released a month after their arrest on April 30 and deported to Malaysia on June 2.

News

Tuesday October 30, 2012

Family stays out of the limelight