Kochi, Mar 24: An NIA special court today sentenced a 30-year-old woman operative to seven years rigorous imprisonment in connection with Kerala IS recruitment case.

Special Judge S Santhosh Kumar awarded the sentence after convicting Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The woman was also found guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 125 (Waging war against any Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India). The special court in Ernakulam also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on her.

Zahid, who hailed from Bihar, is the second accused in the case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

NIA prosecutor Arjun Amabalapatta submitted that the issues related to IS are not just confined to Kerala or India. "The issue has to be eliminated from the society for which maximum punishment should be granted," he said.

Last year, the NIA had filed the charge sheet against two ISIS operatives Abdul Rashid Abdulla as the main accused, who motivated a number of youths from Kasaragod to leave India along with their families to join the Islamic State, and Zahid.

Zahid was intercepted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on July 30, 2016, when she was trying to leave India for Kabul along with her minor child to join her co-conspirator Abdul Rashid Abdulla in the territory under the control of IS in Afghanistan.

There is overwhelming evidence to prove the association of Abdul Rashid Abdulla and Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid, the Court noted.

The Court said the evidence showed that the first and second accused had an inclination to join ISIS and in fact, Abdul Rashid Abdulla along with his colleagues physically joined ISIS by reaching Afghanistan.

It has been established that she attended secret classes taken by Rashid with respect to 'Hijra,' violent jihad on several occasions, the Court said in its order.

There are 15 accused in the case. The NIA had charge-sheeted only two of the 13 others including first accused, Abdulla, was in Afghanistan and one in Syria. Three are believed to be killed in air strikes in Afghanistan.

The Court said the audio tapes sent by Abdul Rashid Abdulla from Afghanistan to his relatives here, openly propagates the ideology of ISIS and soliciting others to join it.

According to him, it is the duty of every Muslim to do Hijra towards the Caliphate which is formed under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Court said.

The agency had said the case relates to the criminal conspiracy hatched within and outside India by certain youths, originally hailing from Kerala's Kasaragod district, with the intention of furthering the objectives of ISIS and their pursuant exit from India along with their families for joining and supporting the terror organisation.

The case was re-registered at the NIA police station, Kochi, on August 24, 2016.

A probe by the NIA has established that Abdul Rashid Abdulla was the main conspirator, who motivated a number of youths from Kasaragod to leave India along with their families to join the Islamic State.

He conducted classes in Kasaragod and other places in support of the terrorist organisation and "its ideology of violent jihad", the agency had said. Abdulla motivated one more set of 14 co-conspirators, including Zahid, to join the proscribed organisation and plan for "Hijrah to the Caliphate" announced by the ISIS, it had said.

The NIA said the probe revealed that the conspiracy had been in operation since July, 2015. The probe has established that Abdulla had raised funds for the IS and transferred the money to Yasmeen, who utilised it for her activities with the intention of supporting the terrorist organisation.