Umamah Bakharia

The Thulsie twins have been convicted today at the Johannesburg High Court for trying to leave South Africa to join ISIS after nearly six years awaiting trial. One of the brothers, Tony-Lee Thulsie also pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct terror attacks against local Jewish interests and foreign embassies in South Africa.

Under the terms of a plea bargain with the prosecutor, Tony-Lee Thulsie was sentenced to 11 years in prison and his brother Brandon-Lee received an eight-year prison sentence. They have already been in jail awaiting trial since July 2016, therefore, Tony-Lee will effectively serve five years and Brandon-Lee two.

The twins pleaded guilty to attempting to travel to Syria twice in 2015 to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), to conduct terrorist activities. They also pleaded guilty to downloading ISIL literature from the internet which include: instructions on how to acquire weapons and make bombs.

Their conviction brings an end to a much anticipated case which is the first for international terrorism under the 2004 Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (Pocdatara) — known in shorthand as the terrorism act.