By Andrea Louise E. San Juan

A 36-YEAR-OLD woman has been arrested at her home in Taguig City by the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) Counter Terrorism Division for alleged illegal online activities, particularly the recruitment of members to religious extremist groups based in Mindanao.

The suspect, identified as Karen Aizha Hamidon, was nabbed on Oct. 11 by virtue of a search warrant and was presented to the media yesterday.

“(Ms.) Hamidon has been a person of interest to authorities since she gained international notoriety in the middle of 2016 when she successfully recruited several Indian nationals to come to the Philippines and join the radical Islamic extremist groups in Mindanao,” said NBI Director Dante A. Gierran in a statement.

During her arrest, the NBI operatives seized cellphones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices allegedly being used for her online activities.

The NBI said they were able to retrieve 296 messages on her cellphone promoting rebellion in Marawi City, of which 250 were sent to foreign nationals.

One message posted in Telegram, a social media application, reads: “The soldiers of Taghut are desperate to defeat the Muhajireen of the Islamic State of Marawi City… but Wallahi they won’t be successful. They won’t be able to defeat the force of Dawlwah because Allah (Azza wa Jaal is on their side).”

“That is why the Dawlwah is once again inviting all our ikhwaanil Muslimeen in all parts of the Philippines and around the world to support our Muhajireen of East Asia. Let us go to Marawi, in Mindanao to join the war against the Conquerors of the soldiers of Tawagheet”

Ms. Hamidon has been charged before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for 14 counts of violation of Article 318 (Inciting a Rebellion or Insurrection) of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 6 of R.A. 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

“Every time she sent it (the message), that would be at least one count of the violation of incited rebellion or rebellion itself,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said in a press conference yesterday.

Mr. Aguirre said evidence indicates that “she’s part and parcel of this rebellion in Marawi because she was the wife of Muhammad Shamin Mohammed Sidek,” a Singaporean national who was detained for his links with the Islamic State (IS).

Mr. Gierran also said that Ms. Hamidon was the wife of Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, also known by his aliases Tokboy and Abu Sharifa, the former leader of the Ansar Khalifa Philippines, a group suspected to have been working with the Marawi-based Maute group and responsible for the September 2016 Davao City night market bombing as well as the failed attempt to bomb the US Embassy in Manila last December 2016.

Mr. Maguid was killed by the police in January 2017 in Sarangani.

Ms. Hamidon was presented by the government to the public two days after terror leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Khayyam Maute were killed in Marawi City, almost five months since they launched a rampage on May 23. The two have pledged allegiance to IS. President Rodrigo R. Duterte declared Marawi City’s liberation from terrorist influences last Oct. 17.

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