Hasan Bal was sentenced in the Circuit Court in Waterford after pleading guilty to two offences involving funds intended for the benefit of Islamic State. Judge Eugene O’Kelly imposed concurrent prison terms of three years and four-and-a-half years, with parts suspended on strict conditions.
The sentencing judgment, given on 5 July 2018, records that Bal pleaded guilty on 12 January 2018 to providing funds for the terrorist group and attempting to collect or receive funds for it. The offences were charged under sections 13(3)(a) and 13(4) of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005.
The court heard that Bal sent €400 to an ISIS operative in Bosnia in October 2015. It also heard that he believed he was arranging to collect money in London after communicating with an undercover newspaper reporter. The expected money did not exist. The judge said that did not reduce Bal’s culpability because he believed the funds would support Islamic State.
Judge O’Kelly set headline sentences of four years on the first count and six years on the second. He increased these to five and seven years respectively to account for aggravating factors, including sustained preparations, use of encrypted messaging and false names, and the effect on Bal’s brother, whom the judge said had been drawn into the collection unknowingly. The court then reduced the terms for Bal’s guilty pleas and other mitigation, including his reformative efforts, lack of previous convictions and remorse, producing final terms of three years and four-and-a-half years.
The judge suspended the final year of the three-year term and the final two years of the four-and-a-half-year term. The suspension was conditional on Bal remaining disassociated from groups promoting a radical view of Islam or justifying violence, and engaging in de-radicalisation counselling as directed by the Probation Service. The court directed that counselling be organised in prison and after release, and imposed post-release supervision for three years. The sentences were concurrent and dated from 27 April 2017, when Bal entered custody. The judge declined to impose a condition requiring religious instruction.