Tackling Islamic State Recruitment in Southeast Asia: The Arrest of Karen Aisha Hamidon

Tackling Islamic State Recruitment in Southeast Asia: The Arrest of Karen Aisha Hamidon

Karen Aisha Hamidon (a.k.a. Karen Aisha al-Muslimah) was arrested on October 11, 2017, by the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (Counterterrorism Division) in Taguig City for luring foreign and local Muslims to join the Maute group (the so-called “Islamic State of Lanao”) to fight against government forces in Marawi, Philippines (The Philippine Star, October 19).

Hamidon was initially charged before the Philippine Department of Justice with 14 counts of violation of Article 318 (i.e. inciting a rebellion or insurrection). Soon after, she was also charged for online recruitment of fighters for the Islamic State’s cause (Manila Times/ Press Reader, October 19). Philippine security agencies have revealed that Hamidon had 250 contact numbers of foreigners in her mobile phone, which are under further investigation. She denies all charges as allegations against her and underscores that she was just propagating Islam in social media platforms. In early November, Hamidon claimed before the department of justice in Manila that she was merely a blogger, an Islamic propagator and a Muslim missionary who uses social media as an avenue to spread the message of Islam (Daily Tribune [Manila], November 4).

India Connection

Long before Hamidon’s arrest, she was on Indian counterterrorism authorities’ radar for influencing and recruiting Muslim youths from various countries, including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, using social media platforms. While the Indian agencies have been working to fathom the web of online radicalization and recruitment Hamidon weaved over the last few years, initial investigations revealed that several Indians have been influenced by Hamidon’s recruitment efforts for Islamic State (IS). Her name initially emerged in December 2015 in connection with the arrests of Mohammad Sirajuddin in Jaipur city (Rajasthan) and Mohammad Naseer, who was deported from Sudan while attempting to go to Libya to join IS (Times of India, June 4, 2016; Daily News and Analysis, December 12, 2015). Both of these individuals have confessed that they were in contact with Hamidon and acknowledged that she influenced their decision to join IS. Adnan Hassan Damudi, another Indian national in touch with Hamidon, has been in custody since his deportation from Dubai in January 2016 for aiding IS’ online recruitment drive (Deccan Chronicle, January 31, 2016).

India’s elite anti-terrorism National Investigation Agency (NIA) featured Hamidon’s name prominently in its various charge sheets filed against arrested IS recruits in 2016 and subsequently approached its counterparts in the Philippines on the matter. [1] The NIA also believes that she was in contact with few Kerala and Kashmir youths who sympathized with IS ideals and wanted to join IS’ jihadist bandwagon. Information from the Philippines suggest that Karen Hamidon has been closely associated with IS affiliates throughout the Southeast Asian region and has access to the Moro Islamic militants of the Philippines. She is also suspected of trying to influence young Muslim girls from Mindanao province to join IS (New Indian Express, October 20). Further investigations into these cases have revealed vital details about Hamidon’s life, quest for radical Islam, and efforts as one of the more prominent female recruiters for Islamic State.

Virtual Echo Chamber

Hamidon is a resident of Diego Shilang village in Taguig City in the Philippines who operated as the administrator of Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp groups seeking to recruit Muslims in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and elsewhere to fight for IS in Iraq, Syria and the Philippines’s Marawi City. She managed a few pro-Islamic State groups in messaging platforms called “Islam Q&A,” “Ummah Affairs” and “Baqiyah United Group (BUG)” (Straits Times, October 18; Times of India, October 21).  She used these social media platforms to convince foreign fighters to come to the Philippines and other IS territories. The National Bureau of Investigation in Manila found nearly 300 of her posts promoting the Marawi siege. One such message she sent out read: “Let us go to Marawi in Mindanao to join the war against the Conquerors of the soldiers of Tawaghut” (Philippine Star, October 19). In the words of Philippine Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Hamidon’s online activities are “a conspiracy, or in sync, with actions of the Marawi militants” who took over the city on May 23 in an audacious attempt to turn the city into an IS wailyat (province) (Star Online (Petaling Jaya), October 19).

Moro to Marawi

Born to a Muslim father, Ahmad Jilan Hamidon, and a Christian mother, Victoria Abunan, in September 1981, Karen Hamidon, along with two of her sisters, was converted to Islam around 2000. Hamidon was raised Catholic, and she completed her undergraduate studies at Western Mindanao State University, where she received a degree in biology and psychology (Inquirer.net, November 10). She then found work with Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, which is where radical Islam first influenced her. After returning to the Philippines, Hamidon associated herself with the Mahad al-Islamic mosque in Zamboanga City, Mindanao (Daily Pioneer, August 6, 2016).

According to her affidavit, Hamidon has had four marriages initiated through online  communication — at least two were with men affiliated with IS.[2] Hamidon is the widow of prominent militant leader Mohammad Jaafar “Tokboy” Maguid, who led the pro-IS Ansar al-Khilafah Philippines until police killed him in January 2017 (Inquirer.net [Manila], January 5). Earlier she was married to another self-proclaimed IS militant from Singapore, Muhammad Shamin Mohammed Sidek, who was arrested in August 2015 for his ties to IS. Shamin was influenced by IS’ online propaganda, and at the time of his arrest was planning to travel to Syria to join the jihadist group. Maguid was suspected to have masterminded the market bombing in Davao City in September 2016 and part of a failed bombing conspiracy targeting the U.S. embassy in Manila later that year (Sun Star [Davao], October 19; Associated Press, April 15).

According to the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC)’s Sidney Jones, Hamidon may not have had a significant impact in her efforts to bring youths into IS’ fold (South China Morning Post, October 18). A few members of her group were suspicious of her support for the IS cause, calling her a government agent. Some even accused her of being responsible for the arrest of several pro-IS youths in the Philippines. Many of Hamdion’s group members do not view favorably her views on IS-linked militant leaders— like her view that Malaysian militant Abu Anas of Abu Sayyaf Group is a fake leader. She also questioned Musa Cerantonio, the Australian Islamist preacher sympathetic to the IS cause, for lack of knowledge of Islam and for adultery (Strait Times, October 18). However, Philippine authorities believe that Hamidon has good working ties with Musa Cerantonio, who was arrested in Queensland, Australia for attempting to travel to Indonesia to join Islamic State (ABC News, May 11, 2016).

Officials in both New Delhi and Manila are working on the Hamidon case to assess the extent of IS’ online radicalization efforts in the face of her denial and counter-accusations against the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). While the NBI refutes Karen Hamidon’s accusations, she is presently seeking the dismissal of the criminal complaints filed by the NBI against her for inciting a rebellion in the Philippines.

 

NOTES

[1] “Jaipur, Rajasthan State (NIA) V/S Moahammed Sirajuddin”, National Investigation Agency, Government of India, New Delhi, Final Report

(U/S 173 (2) Cr Pc), https://nia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/CasesPdfDoc/CS_04-06-2016_-RC-05-2016-

[2] Karen Aisha Hamidon’s seven page affidavit to the Department of Justice, Manila (Philippines) details and corroborates information about her online and personal activities previously reported in the media in India and Philippines. A copy of affidavit is with the author.