Maute ‘recruiter’ married 2 ISIS men

MANILA, Philippines — A woman suspected of recruiting operatives for ISIS and the Maute group had been married to two men with links to the terror group.

In her seven-page counter-affidavit, submitted during yesterday’s hearing at the Department of Justice, Karen Aizha Hamidon, 36,  said the National Bureau of Investigation lured her into posting messages on social media calling on foreigners to join the Maute group in attacking Marawi City.

Hamidon, a call center agent, was arrested in Taguig last month.

She is facing 296 counts of inciting to rebellion in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 or one count of rebellion in relation to the cybercrime law. The Department of Justice said the case has been submitted for resolution.

Hamidon has been described in previous reports as the biggest “honey trap recruiter for ISIS” in India, luring young men to join the terror group.

Hamidon said she met her husbands on social media.

She was married to her first husband, Egyptian optometrist Ahmad Magdy, from May 22, 2010 to Dec. 13, 2010. They met via Skype but ended their relationship due to irreconcilable differences.

Her second husband was Muhammad Shamin Bin Mohamed Siddek, a Singaporean she met through Facebook. They married in March 2015 after he paid P53,000 dowry.

In September that year, Siddek was arrested and convicted for supporting the ISIS. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

“Under Shari’ah law he is already considered missing, thus, I am again allowed to re-marry because our marriage was considered under the law as null and void,” Hamidon said. 

Her third husband was Mohamad Jaafar Sabiwang Maguid whom she reportedly only later learned was Abu Sharifah Al-Filibini, who uses the alias “Tokboy Maguid.” 

“I never knew his personal background because of the short period that had just lapsed. He hid the fact that he is the leader of the Ansarul Khalifah Philippines (AKP),” she said. 

It has been reported that AKP is a local terrorist group that pledged allegiance to IS in 2015.

They met via Telegram Messenger and had been “chat-mates” for a week when he introduced himself to be affiliated with the Moro National Liberation Front.

She said she fell in love with him and flew to Sarangani to meet and marry him after he gave her dowry in March 16, 2016. 

She was Maguid’s fourth wife and lived with his relatives in Barangay Maasim.

It was only when government troops conducted a joint raid that she claimed she learned about Maguid’s connections with ISIS. 

She divorced him  on May 16, 2016.

Hamidon was supposed to marry for the fourth time. American Abdul Jalil Rickard paid her dowry and was on his way to the Philippines but “he was hindered in coming here, thus, the marriage ceremony was not performed.”

Hamidon said that she was born and raised a Catholic and even studied in a Catholic school for elementary and high school. 

She converted to Islam on March 28, 2000.  

Death threats

Hamidon said after she married Maguid, she had been arrested thrice but was always released because no evidence was found against her.

She said since she divorced him, she “received several death threats because they think that I am a spy. I also learned that I am due for execution anytime.”

In September 2016, a confidential government agent, using the account name J A on Facebook, contacted Hamidon.

J A claimed to be a Muslim solider assigned in Lanao, and allegedly asked her to stitch a black flag of the IS and to record a video showing allegiance to the IS, but in both instances she declined.  

During yesterday’s hearing, she was allowed to listen to three audio recordings wherein she allegedly pledged her allegiance to the IS and encouraged the people to support the Maute group fighting in Marawi City. 

The audio recordings, she explained, were “done under duress… I was only instigated to record my audio by pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.”